Over the weekend, Otoya'd had tons of time, and she'd put every minute to good use. She had come up with several different schemes to break the fake couple apart. Some of them were sly and sneaky, while others were more direct.

In the end, she'd decided to make it simple.

Today, she'd face them head on, telling them she knew their little secret and that if they didn't drop the act, everyone would get to know they were only faking it.

She could have gone over to Isuke's house during the weekend. That thought had presented itself to her many times, but in the end, she came to a conclusion.

Haruki would make a way easier target.

And speaking of Haruki; she was walking right up ahead. That flaming red mane could belong to none other than the snack-loving tomboy.

How she loathed that girl for stealing what was rightfully hers. Especially in such a rotten way.

All she wanted to do right now was wipe that cocky grin off of Haruki's annoying face.

Concealing all her hatred, she forced a bright smile onto her lips. She sped up into a frisky jog, allowing her to catch up to Haruki, despite her long steps.

"Hi," she chirped, tapping the girl on the shoulder as she slowed down, now walking beside her.

"Yo," she replied, glancing quickly at her.

Haruki didn't seem overly enthusiastic to see her, but it didn't look like she wanted Otoya to get lost either. Frankly, she seemed uninterested, like she was caught up in her own thoughts.

"You're Sagae Haruki, right? Isuke's girlfriend?" she beamed at her, her venomous tone making it obvious that she wasn't just casually asking.

"Yeah, that's right." Haruki ignored the hint, probably on purpose.

It pissed Otoya off how she was entirely unaffected. She'd thought maybe this would be fun, but she'd just been proven wrong.

"Say, Sagae, you wouldn't happen to have a minute?" she asked sweetly, "I've been wanting to talk to you."

The redhead turned to her, arching her eyebrow in question.

"School's about to start, so-" she began to protest despite her newfound curiosity on the matter.

"It's about you and Isuke," declared Otoya, knowing this information would undoubtedly change her mind.

Haruki's curiosity finally got the best of her, and sighing in defeat, she replied.

"Make it quick."

Since most of the students had already headed to class, they stopped to talk just in front of the entrance. Haruki stood, her bag lazily slung over her shoulder as she waited for the other girl to start talking.

Regardless of having promised to hurry, Otoya took her sweet time. She paced around, eyeing Haruki the way a predator would with its prey. She smiled mischievously as she spoke.

"It's never going to work," she stated out of the blue, earning a confused look.

"What isn't?"

Otoya came to a halt, facing her.

"You and Isuke, of course," she explained, as if she was talking to a child. She smiled triumphantly as she saw Haruki's hands curling into fists.

"I don't think that's any of your business," she spoke through gritted teeth.

So maybe this would be fun, after all. She was slowly starting to learn how to push the girl's buttons.

"I'm only trying to make sure you don't get hurt," she responded, faking hurt. Heck, if someone were to hurt that bitch, it'd be Otoya herself.

"Yeah right." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, "This is stupid. I'm leaving."

"How long do you think it'll last before the lie falls apart?" she rushed, making sure she didn't leave. She'd hoped to drag it out a little longer, but Haruki didn't have the patience.

She turned back around, her eyes wide. The panic on her face was clear as day, and it made Otoya so happy.

"You can't keep up your little act forever, you know. It won't take long before people see through it," she grinned evilly.

"So you know, then," she stated, knowing there was no point in playing dumb at this point.

Damn it, they should have been more careful with this.

"Didn't your parents ever teach you it's bad to lie?" she teased playfully, "I guess I'll tell everyone the truth, if you don't, that is."

Haruki didn't know what to do.

This could ruin everything. If everyone found out, not only would they think badly of her, but she and Isuke would have to break up. That way, she would need to find a new way to aid her family.

And well… she wouldn't get to see Isuke anymore. She was certain that the fashionable girl would want nothing to do with her after this. What was so special about Haruki anyway? What did she have to offer someone like Isuke? After this, Isuke would probably stop talking to her overall.

She didn't want that.

"What will it take to make you keep quiet about it?" she asked, desperate to keep their secret from getting out. Otoya just laughed at her.

"Think I want money or something?" she paused for a while, "I think you know what I want."

Of course she knew.

Otoya wanted her and Isuke to break up so that she might get a second chance.

Then again, Haruki couldn't imagine Isuke ever going back to Otoya, no matter the circumstances. In the end, it didn't really matter what she thought or did. No matter if Isuke was available, there was no way in hell she'd want to be with that psycho. Otoya wouldn't gain anything from this.

"You know what," Haruki said, a smug smile spreading across her lips, "Fuck you."

The dark haired girl gaped at her. She looked like she'd just been punched in the face, or maybe even something worse.

"Isuke and I may not be dating for real, but that doesn't change the fact that she freaking hates you, and that you need to back off," she stated coolly at the aggravated girl.

"As if you have the right to tell me that," Otoya bit back, barely managing to keep her voice down.

Who did she think she was, anyway? She was just some random chick that had waltzed into their school all of a sudden. It wasn't as though her and Isuke had any history, or a real relationship, or anything at all.

She had simply followed the scent of money, ending up in Isuke's life.

She didn't even know her. Otoya knew her. She'd known her ever since they started going to school here. That was over a year ago, now.

She knew how she'd respond in different situations, she knew her deepest thoughts and feelings about all kinds of things, like her family situation and how her parents pushed her to date all these random people. Sure, she'd been one of them, but that was besides the point.

She knew Isuke, but Haruki didn't. She wouldn't accept that.

"I do, 'cause I genuinely care for her," she said, completely unmoved by the comment, "I just want her to be happy. You obviously don't, because if you did, you'd leave her alone."

To her, it was clear that Otoya only cared about herself. Sure, she might have thought she cared about Isuke, but that couldn't be the case. If she did, she'd have backed off by now, because she wasn't wanted.

If Isuke would have been happier without her in her life, Haruki would have left without a second thought.

In her mind, that was considered caring. Putting someone else first, that's what caring was to her.

She wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Before she could even react, she felt something making a rough impact with her face. She brought a hand up to her eye, which had taken the most damage.

It took her a few seconds to realize that Otoya had punched her in the face.

She managed to wrap her mind around the fact just in time to successfully avoid the next hit. Immediately, she braced herself for another hit, but was taken by surprise yet again as Otoya kicked her feet away from under her.

She fell to the ground, landing on her knees. Her hands also collided with the asphalt, the coarse surface ripping off her skin and breaking her nails. Looking down, she realized some of her beloved nails had even begun bleeding, but now was not the time to worry about that.

Haruki wasn't particularly eager to get into a fight, but in this case, Otoya had made the first move. At this point, it'd only be considered self defense.

She grabbed a hold of her ankle, pulling her down with all of her weight. She heard a growl, and so she realized the fall had at least done some damage to her opponent.

Turning around, she saw Otoya clutching her side, but apparently she wasn't severely injured, because in the next second, her foot crashed into Haruki's shoulder. Still on the ground, she delivered a few more inelegant kicks that Haruki more or less managed to avoid.

She crawled over to the kicking girl so she could punch her in the face, but was grabbed a hold of. Otoya spun them around and tried to use her weight to keep Haruki down, but it wasn't easy seeing as Haruki was heavier than her.

The two rolled around, clawing at each other's faces as they both tried to gain the upper hand.

Just when Otoya finally managed to pin her down after getting in a solid punch at the very spot she'd kicked before, they heard voices in the distance.

"Sagae! Takechi!" It was Mizorogi-sensei's voice and it was filled with deep concern for his students.

"Break it up, you guys," he said as he got closer to them.

Relieved that the fight was finally over, Haruki roughly pushed Otoya off of her and sat up dizzily.

Her head was spinning and the pain was so intense she couldn't even tell where it was coming from.

"Wow, what happened here?" She didn't bother to look up, but she recognized the voice as Nio's.

"I think it's for the best if we discuss that later," sighed the teacher, happy to see that no one had gotten very hurt, "Why don't you take Sagae to the nurse's office."

"You can count on me!" declared Nio.

Haruki looked up just in time to see the short blonde do a military salute before rushing over to her.

Some other girls ran towards Otoya. She only recognized one of them, though. It was a girl with glasses and braids, and she believed her name was Kenmochi Shiena. Yeah, that was her name.

Shiena rushed to Otoya's side, attempting to help her up, but she was forcefully pushed away by the angry girl. Otoya spat some blood on the ground and staggered unsteadily to her feet. Then, she said something that made Shiena's worried face distort into a deep frown as she began lecturing the girl she'd been worried about just mere seconds earlier.

She wasn't sure what exactly they were saying, and right now, she couldn't really care less.

Nio struggled to get her to her feet, and it didn't get any better as they began walking. Haruki was leaning on her shoulder for support, but she stumbled and zigzagged around the place under the weight of the taller girl.

"Seriously? Keep that up and you'll both end up getting hurt."

Haruki's heart skipped a beat as she spotted Isuke's smirking face.

For a short second, she forgot about her pain, but it returned soon enough.

"Let me do it," Isuke demanded. Nio scurried away from her and Haruki felt a steady arm wrap around her waist. She leaned against Isuke, not sure if she did it for the support or the closeness.

They started heading back, Isuke making sure the injured girl didn't suddenly fall over. The way she clung to her, one would think her injuries were fatal.

"You sure you won't drop dead before we reach the nurse's office?" Isuke joked sarcastically. She'd placed Haruki's arm over her shoulder to make her steadier, but it didn't help much. Almost carrying her was getting rather heavy.

The redhead laughed drily.

"Are you really that weak?" she teased, to which Isuke scoffed.

"You should cut down on the pocky."

Haruki just rested even more of her weight on her, party to get revenge for the insult and partly because being this close to Isuke felt pretty nice.

It wasn't as though Isuke would ever find out that she didn't really hurt all that much.

"I should kill her," Isuke hissed through gritted teeth. She was practically seething, and had been ever since they got to the nurse's office, which was empty as the school nurse was home with a cold, today of all days.

Haruki didn't know what had come over her all of a sudden, because she'd been completely calm and collected until they got there. Then again, she'd probably been boiling with fury on the inside, but decided to keep it hidden until they were out of sight.

She was attempting to clean one of Haruki's many wounds, but as of now, the wild-haired girl wasn't sure if she was making it better or worse. Her every motion was rough and hasty, expressing parts of the anger she was feeling.

"Ouch," Haruki muttered as she accidently touched her eye while trying to clean a particularly nasty gash.

Otoya had managed to claw up her entire face. It looked like she'd been in a fight with a cat, only worse. That girl sure had sharp nails. Then again, so did Haruki, so she hoped that Otoya's face would look pretty scratched up tomorrow, too.

"If she doesn't look at least as bad as you, I swear I'll go over and beat her dead."

"Calm down, Isuke-sama," she said in a soothing voice. It wasn't that much of a big deal, so she didn't want her to get all worked up about it.

Besides, Isuke kind of freaked her out when she was planning a murder like that. Sometimes, Haruki thought she might seriously go through with it one day.

"You think I'm going to let this pass?" she spat stubbornly, patting one of her cuts with a cotton wad with some disinfectant remedy of some kind.

Okay, so she kind of understood it. She did want her to let it slide, but if it had been Isuke who was full of scratches and grazes and had a black eye, she knew she would react just about the same way.

"It's my fault you got hurt," Isuke stated, putting down the now bloody wad. She looked down with a guilty expression on her face.

It was a little ironic how Haruki felt the need to give her a comforting hug, even though it was she who had been beaten to a pulp.

Still, it looked like Isuke was in far more pain than her.

"Nah, I had it coming," she laughed, trying to ease the girl's guilt. It didn't seem to have any effect, so she tried a different approach.

"Just stay here with me, okay?" she whispered, feeling herself blush. Had she ever even blushed around Isuke before? She couldn't remember.

Just asking this made her feel weak. She was pretty much saying that she needed Isuke with her, thus making her vulnerable. Isuke could very easily reject her proposal.

If she did, it'd hurt her even more now than it would have a few minutes ago. Because now, she'd admitted it, both to herself and to Isuke.

Haruki had always had to be strong. She had to be strong for her mother and for her siblings and for herself. She had to work to feed them and put a smile on her face so they'd be happy.

She'd always been strong, and a part of her was tired of it. She needed someone right now. She needed Isuke to stay with her, if only for a little while.

Isuke didn't say anything. She just smiled, placing her hands on top of Haruki's.

Haruki looked so much younger while she was asleep. It was as though all the marks from years of struggle and worry were washed off of her face. She looked so calm and serene as she rested on the bed, and Isuke wished she could just stay there forever, looking at her sleeping face.

Her anger had long since disappeared, or maybe she'd just temporarily laid it aside.

Right now, she couldn't think of Otoya, or how things could have gone if she'd told anyone. All of her thought revolved around Haruki.

She thought about how relieved she was that she was alright, how peaceful she looked while she slept, how warm her injured hands felt… All kinds of things. However, all these thoughts were leading to one conclusion. One emotion.

It was a feeling she'd never felt before, well maybe except for towards her parents, but it wasn't the same thing.

It was so different from the way she'd felt about all of her previous girlfriends and boyfriends, or about her friends.

Isuke couldn't imagine herself ever confessing to something like that. Normally, if something like this happened, she would try to push the thought aside, pretending everything was normal. But this time she didn't. Right now, she didn't even want to. She didn't want it to disappear, didn't want the moment to ever come to an end.

She pushed a lock of pink hair behind her ear before she leaned down slowly. Her lips softly brushed against Haruki's forehead.

After a second or two she pulled back, afraid she might wake the girl. As she looked down at her again, she finally realized it.

For the first time in her life, she was falling in love.

She was falling in love with Haruki for real.

Well, Isuke finally realized her feelings. Took her long enough xD

I originally didn't plan to have that fight between Otoya and Haruki, but then I got a review about the two fighting and Isuke tending to Haruki's injuries, which just sounded so cute I had to add it.

Anyway, please tell me what you think. And the next chapter should be up by Monday, probably.

See you next chapter!