"The play went great, don't you think? Namatame and Kirigaya really made a good Romeo and Juliet," Haruki babbled cheerfully.

The pair were walking down the hall, heading outside to see the rest of the attractions at the culture festival, now that they had finished their job for the night.

Isuke would have held her hand, so they'd actually look like a couple, but Haruki was too busy waving her arms around energetically as she rambled about the performance.

The redhead kept going on about the play, but Isuke didn't listen. She was too caught up in her own thoughts as she looked at Haruki's smiling face.

She was so into this stuff, and while Isuke couldn't understand why, it made her very happy. Just seeing her smile like that was enough to make her smile too.

In a way, she wanted to ask her just what was so great about this, but she had a feeling she'd get the same answers as before. It was possible that Haruki simply enjoyed this 'cause she'd never gotten to be a normal high school girl, but she had this feeling that there was something more to it.

Perhaps she was reading too much into all of it.

"You should have been on stage," exclaimed Haruki suddenly, "I mean, you only did that little introduction from backstage and the audience loved you."

Isuke couldn't help but roll her eyes. Since she met Haruki, she'd been doing that very often. It had pretty much become a habit by now.

"You're exaggerating everything today. They just laughed, Haruki," she stated. Really, she'd just cracked a little joke. It hadn't been all that funny.

"Fine, fine," she shrugged, trying to ignore the girl's annoyance. "You know, you're being awfully grumpy today. Something the matter?"

So she had noticed her change of behavior, after all.

For the last couple of days, the memory of her argument with Otoya had been hanging over her like a dark cloud, making her extra irritable. She'd attempted to hide it so that no one would ask questions, but apparently, nothing went pass Haruki.

"You're worried about me? That's cute," Isuke snickered teasingly, "I'm flattered, Haruki."

The girl made a sound that sounded like a mix-up between a chuckle and a snort as she chewed on some chocolate pocky.

"If you want to talk about it sometime, I'm all ears, you know," she said more seriously.

Isuke was grateful that she didn't intend to push her any further. If possible, she wanted to keep Haruki out of the drama between her and Otoya.

"Wait up, guys!"

Nio came running after them, not slowing down before she caught up completely. She panted heavily, trying to catch her breath.

Isuke assumed she'd gone straight after them as soon as she had changed out of her costume for the play and into her everyday attire.

"Well done in the play, Nio," Haruki complimented her. Nio had played the part of the friar. While it wasn't the biggest or most important part in the play, just standing in front of such a huge crowd while managing to keep track of your lines was pretty impressive.

"Thanks!" smiled Nio, looking beyond grateful as she received the praise.

Isuke was well aware that the girl didn't get enough attention. Isuke never even listened to her senseless babbling, she didn't have a family, as far as she knew, and not many other friends either. Haruki was, in fact, the only person that was genuinely kind to Nio. Well, most of the time.

"So, where do you wanna go?" asked Nio. Now that she'd rested up for a bit, she was eager to get going again, excitedly bouncing around like a little kid.

"Dunno," replied Haruki, "What's on the program?"

"There was supposed to be a band from one of the other classes, but I think their performance might be done already. Other than that, there is a cosplay café, a short-film festival and fireworks," Nio ranted.

While it was rather neat, she couldn't understand why the blonde had bothered to learn the entire program by heart.

"Lame," Isuke muttered to herself. The other two ignored her, or maybe they didn't even hear her.

"I wanna see the fireworks later," uttered Haruki.

She sent a curious glance in her direction. The pocky-eating girl saw it in the corner of her eye and explained.

"I haven't really found time to go to many festivals. Besides, if I were to bring all my siblings, they'd be hard to keep track of, so I haven't seen fireworks up close ever since I was little."

"What?" Nio erupted in surprise, "That's horrible! Going to a festival and seeing the fireworks is like a human right when you live in Japan."

That girl must have read way too much manga, Isuke figured.

Sure, fireworks was pretty, but it was certainly something you could live without.

"I don't know about that, but…" Haruki trailed off as she began to laugh at Nio, who still looked shocked.

The entire situation was kind of comical, actually. As a matter of fact, it was so ridiculous that Isuke found herself smiling at it.

It had been about an hour since Nio joined up with them, and Isuke was getting sick of her. Isuke was sure that if people had a measurable annoyingness factor, Nio's would have been high enough to set a new world record.

She walked a few steps behind her friends, trying to shut out Nio's bright voice as she looked around. They had just lit a huge bonfire down on the football field, but they'd decided not to go there, seeing as it was incredibly crowded.

Right now, she just wished for the time to go faster so that she could leave soon. There was absolutely nothing interesting to do, and Nio was being even more chatty, and thus even more bothersome, than usual.

"Hey, Nio," Haruki cut the girl off mid-sentence.

"Huh?" she muttered. Haruki pointed towards a stall-like structure with a long line of customers. Some of the classes used to set up stalls with some food or homemade ornaments to earn extra money for the school.

"Looks like they have lots of customers. Why don't you go buy us something to eat?" she asked.

"Okay!" sang Nio enthusiastically, jogging towards the back of the line.

After a few seconds, Haruki turned around and began walking in the other direction. When she realized that her companion wasn't following her, she stole a quick glance at her over her shoulder.

"Come on," she stated impatiently.

"Are we just leaving her here?" Isuke asked, referring to the short girl at the back of the line, who was jumping up and down, trying to look pass the crowd to find out what they were selling.

It wasn't that she'd feel bad leaving her there, but she hadn't expected Haruki to do that to a friend.

She just shrugged nonchalantly and began walking. Isuke followed her.

"Didn't think you were the type to ditch your friends."

"I could tell you were getting tired," she answered shortly.

So Haruki had left Nio in order to make her happy?

That girl was full of surprises…

"Where could they have gone off to?" Nio muttered to herself as she made her way through the crowd, being careful not to bump into anyone and drop the food she'd bought.

She wasn't quite sure if they'd just lost her in the crowd, or if they had purposely abandoned her, but she had a feeling it was the later.

Of course she'd found out by now that she drove Isuke insane sometimes. Going a little easy on her wouldn't require much effort, but Nio felt like she sometimes needed to get off her high horse. She couldn't always get everything she wanted.

Caught up in thought, she almost crashed into someone. She sidestepped in the last second, however so did the other person.

Nio stared up into the face of the girl blocking her path.

"Ah, Takechi-san," she said with a small grin, "What's up?"

The taller girl seized her up and down for a moment.

"Not much. You gonna eat all that?" she asked, gesturing towards all the food Nio was carrying.

"No, I just lost track of Haruki and Isuke," she explained. Like most people, she didn't feel well around Takechi Otoya.

"So the little lovebirds ditched you, eh?" smiled Otoya, "I'll help you look for them!"

She extended her hands, grabbing some of the food. Nio didn't bother to thank her for helping her carry the stuff, seeing as she was forcing her company onto her like that.

"What's their story, anyway?" she asked casually as they walked side by side.

"You don't think you're sticking your nose where it doesn't belong now, do you?"

Otoya giggled sweetly.

To everyone who didn't know what she was truly like, she'd seem like a very playful, yet cute girl, but Nio knew that she was rotten to the core.

"As if you have the right to lecture me about that," she retorted cleverly, "I just happen to find it suspicious how that chick just comes along like that, and suddenly our head bitch is acting like a love-struck schoolgirl."

Sure, there were a lot of people who thought this to be a good thing for Isuke, and who appreciated her slight change in behavior, but if you observed them closely it was rather suspicious.

No one at Myojo Academy had experienced Isuke caring for anyone but herself. Even towards the many girlfriends she'd had the last year, she'd been cold and uninterested. But then, this tomboyish girl who didn't seem like her type at all unexpectedly transferred into the Black Class. And now… Now Isuke, of all people, went around smiling, holding hands and offering to help people out.

Otoya could definitely see something wrong in that picture.

"What I wanna know, is who this Sagae girl is?" she spoke.

"How would I know?" asked the blonde innocently, shrugging as though it didn't concern her in the slightest.

She absolutely didn't want to ruin their setup, so she'd have to keep her mouth shut. Which was easier said than done, Nio being Nio.

"Hmm, I dunno. Guess I figured a nosy little pain in the ass like yourself would probably know a couple of things."

While she was a little bit insulted by the comment, she chose to ignore it.

"Possibly," she winked, playing along with Otoya's little game, "But what will you do; force the information out of me?"

The girl dwelled on it for a while before replying.

"If it comes down to that."

Nio let out a nervous laugh. She didn't think Otoya would ever seriously hurt her, but she didn't want to be on her bad side, just in case.

"Think I'm scared of you? As if those empty threats would make me spill any secrets," she smirked, hoping to look confident.

Otoya's face lit up, as if she'd gotten some sort of lead. Too late, Nio understood that she may have said too much.

"That implying there are secrets to spill," she smiled wickedly. Her only hope was to keep playing along and hope she didn't read too much into it.

"We all have our secrets, though. Don't we, Takechi-san?"

Abruptly, Otoya stopped. Nio copied her action. The food was shoved back into her arms as Otoya began walking away from her.

"Where are you going?" asked Nio, not understanding what had come over the strange girl all of a sudden. She must have made some sort of connection between Isuke's and Haruki's behaviors and what Nio had just let slip.

"There is still plenty to see around here. I'll take a look around, possibly unveil some secrets in the process." With an evocative look, she strolled off, leaving Nio behind.

After asking around a bit, she managed to pinpoint the pair's location. She neared them carefully, knowing that if they spotted her, she wouldn't get to know anything. The best way to get information in this case was to eavesdrop.

They were leaving a food stall, Haruki happily munching on some candy she'd gotten.

Isuke had a slight frown on her face, just like usual. Nothing seemed all that different about her, really.

"Want some?" Haruki extended the small bag towards her, but Isuke rejected the offer with a hand-gesture.

Then, to Otoya's surprise, she smiled. The corners of her mouth only tilted slightly upwards, and the smile was gone again as soon as it had appeared, but she'd seen it. Isuke didn't normally smile like that.

"You know," Haruki began. Otoya took a few steps closer and concentrated to hear what the redhead said through all the noise. "Being your girlfriend isn't half as bad as I expected. Weekly wages, plus some candy on the bargain."

At first, she had no clue what that was supposed to mean.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?" retorted Isuke. She tried to look insulted, but her already poor act faltered more and more for every second that she looked at Haruki's snickering face.

"I'll let you decide," Haruki winked playfully.

Otoya's mind worked in full speed to try and understand what the two were talking about.

"You're intolerable," Isuke sighed tiredly, "Why did I ever hire you…"

Hire…

Wait! Did that mean what she thought it meant? It had to be that, didn't it?

So that's how it was. Everything made so much sense now.

"Takechi Otoya; back in the game," she grinned to herself.

They were standing in an open spot. Well, as open as it got with the entire school being present. It had gotten dark outside and the fireworks were about to start.

Haruki looked even more excited now than she had been earlier, if that was even possible. Personally, Isuke was feeling a little grumpy. She hadn't been in very high spirits the last couple of days because of Otoya and the play, and Nio hanging around them all afternoon had completely ruined her mood.

Now, she was getting sleepy and cold.

For her, fashion had always come before comfort, but now she regretted not bringing a jacket. Her bare stomach and legs felt almost numb in the cold night air.

Finding herself shivering slightly, she tried to discreetly warm up by folding her arms around herself. Unfortunately for her, Haruki quickly noticed that something was up.

"What's wrong?" she asked, looking over at Isuke.

Part of her wanted to whine about the cold and demand that they headed back inside, but she also didn't want to ruin this for Haruki. She'd been looking forward to it so much, and Isuke didn't want to take that little source of happiness away from the poor girl. She already had enough to struggle with on a daily basis.

"Nothing," she muttered, unable to come up with anything more intelligent to say.

"Are you cold?" She raised her eyebrows questioningly.

The lightly dressed girl was about to protest, but looking at Haruki's expression, she could tell that it was more of a statement than an actual question.

"How could you tell?" she grumbled in annoyance. She didn't like being helpless in any way, and right now, trembling like a leaf, she felt very vulnerable.

"I admit I'm not a genius of any sort, but I'm neither blind nor stupid."

"The later can be discussed," she remarked lightheartedly, "And when I look at that outfit, I'm beginning to question the first one, too."

Haruki didn't feel insulted, knowing Isuke was simply kidding with her. She took off her jacket and wrapped it around the girls slim shoulders.

The warmth immediately helped. It quickly spread through her entire body, warming her on the inside as well as the outside.

Embarrassed and worried that Haruki would now get cold, she wanted to protest, but there was something so nice with wearing Haruki's jacket like that.

Normally, she wouldn't be seen wearing something like that in public, but right then and there, she didn't feel like ever giving it back to its owner.

The first rocket exploded with a loud bang, averting their attention to the sky.

More fireworks soon followed, all of them in different colors. The sky lit up in all the colors of the rainbow. Isuke kind of understood why she had been looking forwards to this so much. It was beautiful.

Her hand subconsciously found its way to Haruki's, her cool fingers wrapping around her warm hand. She didn't even realize what she'd done before the redhead responded by giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

She glanced over at Haruki. The lights from the fireworks reflected in her golden eyes as she gazed up at the sky in complete awe.

Sure, the fireworks were stunning, but they couldn't even compare to Haruki's beauty.

Isuke tugged the jacket more tightly around her, a warm smile spreading across her lips.

Hi again, everyone! Finally got home so I could publish this chapter.

So, their secret is out now. I sense the final face-off with Otoya coming soon! Probably next chapter, in fact. Isuke's feelings for Haruki are also growing stronger, so it's most likely just a matter of time before she realizes she's falling in love with her for real.

I know I've said it before, but thanks to everyone who are reading. I would never have been able to write this without you guys. You're all awesome!

Well, I'm gonna stop rambling now… Bye :)