She didn't bother to hurry. Having already overslept, there was no way she'd make it to school in time, anyway.

She guessed she was beyond "suitably late", as well, but considering what they were doing at school, it might be for the better.

She had no interest in the culture festival whatsoever. Heck, she should've just stayed home, pretending to be sick or something. Why hadn't she thought about that earlier? She could've easily gotten away skipping, but if she turned around and went home now, after so many people had seen her, it'd look dumb.

Sighing, she strolled down the hall leading to the classroom.

"Good morning, Inukai. Glad you could join us," greeted Mizorogi-sensei cheerfully at the sight of the fashionable girl. Haruki and Nio waved their greetings, while Otoya glared creepily at her. She huffed and proceeded to find her seat in the front of the class.

Of course they'd given her the worst seat this year, such as always. Sitting in the front row, the teachers could always keep an eye on what you were doing, you couldn't whisper to the person beside you and there weren't many people to copy answers from.

"We all agreed on doing Romeo and Juliet," Mizorogi informed the latecomer, "And we just finished giving out roles."

Romeo and Juliet, huh. It didn't get more cheesy and sappy than that. How pathetic.

"Now, let's all get to work!" he smiled, signalizing for them to get started by clapping his hands together.

Everyone got up and gathered into groups based on what they were doing for the play. Isuke just stood around, seeing as she hadn't been assigned any specific tasks yet.

"Isuke-sama?" Haruki's voice caught her attention.

"You're working on decorations and costumes with me, Banba, Kaminaga and Takechi."

Great… Otoya was in their group.

This was going to be pleasant.

"What's the matter?" asked Haruki obliviously.

"Huh?" she said, not sure what the wild haired girl was referring to.

"You're frowning." Isuke hadn't even been aware of it. However, just the mere thought of working together with Otoya pissed her off.

"Even more deeply than usual," she added smugly, earning herself a light punch from Isuke. She rubbed her arm, pretending it had hurt in hopes of getting an apology. The other girl turned her nose up in her usual, stubborn manner, causing Haruki to chuckle.

"Doesn't matter. I look good no matter what kind of face I'm making," she stated matter-of-factly. Haruki simply kept grinning at her.

"Sure you do, Isuke-sama."

Mahiru had settled in one of the corners of the gymnasium. She was sitting on her knees, bent over a half-finished poster. Quite early on, she'd volunteered to make the posters for the play, thus avoiding having to talk to any of the others.

She wasn't too comfortable with people. In fact, she didn't like being around them at all. She was too unsure of herself, so in most cases she wouldn't manage to form a complete sentence. Knowing this, most people kept away from the timid girl, leaving her to her own thoughts.

In a way, she figured maybe that was for the best. Another part of her wished she could feel more relaxed around her classmates. She wanted all of them to accept and like her, but she was so scared they wouldn't that she never even talked to them.

"The posters are coming along nicely, Banba-chan," chirped a bright voice. She glimpsed up through her thick, silvery forelock, seeing Takechi Otoya looking down at her.

She gulped nervously, her eyes returning to her work. She hoped they were good enough. If not, someone may start yelling at her… What would she do then?

"Um… Uh, t-thanks, Takechi-san," she stuttered, forcing a small smile, even though the raven haired girl wouldn't see it from where she was standing.

"Ah, this is really annoying!" Otoya suddenly erupted as she dropped down to the floor beside the scarred girl.

She jumped and moved away slightly, to which Otoya responded with patting her back friendlily. Or rather roughly, truth be told.

"I don't wanna do a play. It's so boring," she continued, her false smile still on her lips.

"T-Then what do you wish to do, Takechi-san?" asked Mahiru out of mere politeness. She didn't want to offend Otoya. She was even more scary when she was in a bad mood, she would know. She had first-hand experience on the matter.

"Hmm, I dunno! What do you think, Banba-san?" She moved closer, knowing it frightened her defenseless classmate.

Seriously, teasing her was just too entertaining. She was such an easy target.

"Maybe something that involves cutting?" she suggested. She was convinced she could see pearls of sweat forming on her forehead, somewhere behind her hair. The satisfaction she got knowing she was startling Mahiru made her smile grow even wider.

"Takechi-san?" a silky voice interrupted.

"I suggest you go find something better to do."

Annoyed at the interruption, Otoya got to her feet and strolled over to the blonde.

While she wasn't the most sociable student in the Black Class, Hanabusa Sumireko was most often seen with a smile on her face. However, now, that smile was washed off of her face as she glared at Otoya.

"Why? We were only talking," she smiled, putting on an innocent act that the rich girl didn't seem to buy for a second.

"Tell me, are you acting stupid or are you really just so dense that you can't tell you're bothering Mahiru-san?" she retorted cleverly.

Otoya was a little taken aback, unaware that Sumireko was one to come with such comments. In her eyes, she'd always appeared like a spoilt, yet subtle girl that didn't stick her nose into other people's business.

Deciding to end her little conversation with Mahiru at that, she put some distance between herself and the other two.

"Geez, you're all so boring today," she whined.

Sumireko eyed her coldly, while Mahiru kept staring down at the floor, still shaking slightly.

"I apologize if we do not live up to your expectations, Takechi-san, but please keep in mind that this isn't your personal playground. You can't just do whatever you please."

"Coming from you… You act as though you own the place," she muttered to herself as she walked away.

After Otoya was gone, the blonde slowly bent down beside her friend. She placed her hand carefully on Mahiru's shoulder, making the girl glance up at her for a second before awkwardly returning her gaze to the ground.

"Mahiru-san, are you alright?" she asked softly, her smile starting to return as she looked at her.

"I-I'm fine," she replied a little too quickly, "Thank you."

Sumireko's smile grew wider.

"No need to thank me; I'm just helping out a friend in need."

Looking at the elegant girl, hearing her say something like that, Mahiru felt her heart warm up. Knowing someone cared was such a nice feeling. Especially when that someone was Sumireko.

"Remember, you can talk to me anytime, alright?"

She looked up, her eyes finally meeting Sumireko's insanely blue ones, and nodded gratefully.

"Poor Banba," Haruki commented on the scene that had just unfolded at the other end of the gymnasium.

"Otoya has always been a bitch," Isuke stated bluntly as she kept spray-painting one of the pillars for the balcony scene.

"Well, at least Hanabusa is nice to her. Ya know, at first I got that typical rich-girl vibe from her, but I guess I jumped to conclusions, huh?" she laughed, feeling a little guilty for having made up her mind about her in advance.

"Hanabusa is nice. She can come off as superficial to some people, but she's a good person."

Isuke wouldn't say she knew her very well. They'd been in the same class since last year, but she'd never talked much to her. Still, she could tell that Sumireko was a kindhearted and sweet girl.

"Just like you, then," Haruki concluded.

"Are you trying to butter me up or something?"

The compliments had been coming at a steady pace all day, along with a couple of jokes and some mockery, but it was odd nevertheless.

"Perhaps I want higher wages," winked Haruki humorously. She pushed aside the finished props and started on some new ones.

"You wish," Isuke replied, "Seriously, why are you so jolly? It's kinda disturbing."

Honestly, she thought it was cute, but like hell she'd ever tell that to anyone. She had trouble enough just admitting it to herself.

"Dunno. I guess I just like working with all this," she shrugged, focusing on the job at hand.

"Why, though? It's so boring," Isuke whined, not seeing how anyone could enjoy painting props and sewing costumes.

"I don't think so."

Then again, maybe it just felt much cooler than it actually was. It was an entirely new experience to her, after all. For as long as she could remember, she'd wanted to be part of something like this. No matter how lame it turned out, she was certain she'd end up having fun with it.

"You're so weird, you know that?" Isuke sighed, still finding it impossible to wrap her mind around it. Haruki's way of thought was totally outlandish to her.

She still felt sort of happy, though. Sure, she was bored as hell and wanted nothing but to go home, but there was this lingering feeling deep in her chest that she recognized as happiness. It was faint, but even so, it was present. She didn't know why she felt that way, for as far as she knew, there was no reason for her to be happy about this.

"We make a good pair, then." Haruki rose to her feet and picked up one of the pillars with ease.

"I'm gonna put these things by the stage. See ya in a bit," she smiled as she left.

She really was enthusiastic about this.

Isuke rested her head in her hand tiredly.

"Wish some of that energy could rub off on me," she muttered to herself.

"Yo!"

As her mind registered the word, it immediately connected it to Haruki, but as Isuke looked up, that's not who she saw.

"You look down. Bad day?" Isuke felt her frown returning. It was as though it happened on reflex whenever she caught sight of Otoya. She truly did find that girl to be obnoxious.

This was one of those times when Isuke wished she was less appealing. If she was only ugly, or had as little of a personality as Kouko or Mahiru, or maybe if she was annoying like Nio or Otoya… Damn it, she just had to be perfect, didn't she?

"Wish I could say it was fine 'till you got here, but it's been a bad day all over," she sighed, putting away the bottle of spray-paint. Otoya sat down opposite of her, using one of the unpainted pillars as backrest.

"That's mean. Feels like everyone is bitching at me today," she grumbled.

First Sumireko, and now Isuke. What were the odds, huh? This wasn't her day, was it?

"You get what's coming to you, I guess. Why do you even mock Banba?"

Sure, she had to admit she wasn't always all that nice to the timid girl, either, but she wasn't directly bullying her. Besides, Isuke wasn't known for her kindness towards people in general.

Frankly, bitchiness was a part of her personality. She even happened to be rather proud of that, so it was not like she'd ever change, even if she sometimes hurt people or pissed them off.

"Why… That is the million dollar question, isn't it?" asked Otoya philosophically, staring up at the ceiling.

"Why do I make fun of Banba? Why do we have to do this stupid play? Why did we break up?" She gave her a pointed, yet meaningful look.

Isuke looked back at her with tired orange eyes. Couldn't she just drop it? They'd had this conversation a hundred times by now, and it didn't get them anywhere.

"We're done," she stated coldly, "Just face it."

"It's so sad, that's all. Such a good couple breaking up because of trivial matters like that."

Isuke couldn't help but let out a loud laugh at that. Sometimes it was like her and Otoya weren't even talking about the same thing.

"What is it?" Otoya asked sweetly, acting as if she didn't know how far from the truth her last statement had been.

"Trivial matters; right…" she chuckled. It wasn't really all that funny, she just felt the need to let out her feelings. Either that, or she'd probably end up punching Otoya in the face.

"Your parents even said we made a fine couple," she reminisced. That's true. Mama and Papa had been rather fond of Otoya, being unaware of her true self, of course.

"And that's all there ever was to it." Otoya raised her eyebrows, wanting her ex to continue.

"It was all their little setup. Sure, you might have fallen for me, but…" she trailed off, adding a dramatic pause.

"There was never anything in it on my side, so get over it, Takechi."

She smiled triumphantly to herself, but felt the need to add something.

"Besides, I have a new girlfriend now."

For a split second, she thought she could see actual hurt in Otoya's turquoise eyes, before it was turned into complete and utter rage.

The girl stormed off at high speed, slamming the door to the gym closed after her so hard that Isuke half-expected it to fall off the hinges.

Everyone's heads shot up at the sound. After a while, their heads turned to Isuke, questioning looks in their eyes. She just shrugged innocently at them.

Not like it was any of their business.

She had shocked Otoya pretty good, but somehow she knew that it probably hadn't been enough to get rid of her for good. If anything, it might just have made her even more motivated. She was the type who got what she wanted, after all.

One thing, though, Isuke swore; she'd never have her.

Because right now, Isuke was with someone far better.

This is actually the first chapter where I have a scene that doesn't involve either Haruki or Isuke. Really wanted to introduce a couple of other characters and start working on the relationship between Sumireko and Mahiru, though. Hope you liked it, at least. Not sure if I'm writing them very well, 'cause I haven't written anything about them before. (But hey, it makes great practice if I decide to write a fic about them soon xD)

Decided to use the title for the next episode for this chapter, 'cause it seemed fitting and I couldn't come up with anything else. (I'm also really excited for that episode, but I won't get to watch it before Sunday :/)

I'll be gone for a couple of days, but I'm planning to update when I get home on Sunday. See you then.