Edit: A reviewer kindly pointed out that my verb-tense-usage in this chapter was ALL OVER THE PLACE. Sorry about that, guys. I guess that's why I oughtn't post chapters online right after I write them.
Hopefully I've fixed all/most of the issues.

It was only natural that Kahoko felt fearful whenever she encountered Yunoki at school. Much to her relief, she soon realized that he was avoiding her as well. She had to wonder why he kept his distance, though. Did he regret what he had done to her? Did he feel guilty? Was this was his way of apologizing?
Kahoko didn't like to think about it because she realized that part of her mind was trying to rationalize his behavior.

As if she was okay with it. As if she'd already forgiven him.

Still, she found herself reflecting back to the night he'd visited her home. She couldn't help but think of the expression on his face when he said, "Kahoko, I didn't visit you tonight for sex."
The way he'd asked permission before kissing her in her bedroom.

It kept nagging at Kahoko in the back of her mind. There was some important detail that was screaming to be noticed, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Something about that night triggered the change in Yunoki's behavior. And the most important question, the question that bothered her to no end was whether the change in his behavior should be associated with the night at her home where he had been so kind to her, or the evening on the rooftop where he had been so cruel. One of those two events had to represent his actual intentions, his true desires toward her—it was just a matter of deciding which one.

But what if she was wrong?

Kahoko tried to keep it out of mind.

Tried.

Instead, she studied. She practiced her violin. She hung out with Nao and Mio and, more frequently now, Shoko Fuuyumi. She even spent time with Ryotaro Tsuchiura. Sometimes he took her places, to a café or a movie, but she tried not to over-analyze it. It was just so easy to be around him. He made her laugh. He made her feel safe. And the time they spent together couldn't be labeled as actual "dates", because he never called them that. Right?

Kahoko supposed that this was just another thing that she was in denial about. Another idea that she refused to entertain.

Perhaps her problem was just with relationships in general.

A month and a half after "the incident", while she was walking home from the music shop that she had gone to with Tsuchiura after school (he'd played the piano for her, done some jazz infused cover of a ridiculous pop song just to make her laugh), her phone buzzed. It was a text from Yunoki. Three words that made her heart stop.

"I need you."

Kahoko ran the rest of the way home, kicked off her shoes, and dashed up to her room, slamming the door shut and trying to decide how she was supposed to respond.

Maybe she wouldn't. Maybe if she ignored it, nothing would happen.

Kahoko curled up in bed, and five minutes later, her phone buzzed again.

"Are you at home?"

Against her better judgment, Kahoko answered to that one.

"Yes."

"I'm sending a car."

Kahoko knew she shouldn't go, but she had to admit that she was curious. Maybe it was some sort of sick desire on her part to try and understand Yunoki. To try and comprehend how someone could act so cheerful to the general public, but be capable of causing so much pain in private.

Her doorbell rang fifteen minutes later, and Kahoko went downstairs to answer it. It was Yunoki's driver.

The driver dropped her off at a hotel. Nervously, Kahoko went up to the front desk and asked for a reservation under the name Azuma Yunoki. She gave her own name, and the receptionist handed her a room key.

She tried to keep calm on the elevator, but failed.

What if it's a repeat of the last time? What if it's worse? Who knows what he's capable of? You should leave.

Kahoko walked to the door number designated on the key and hesitated.

What are you doing? Leave! Turn around and run. Why would he wait so long before contacting you again? What has he been planning? This could be dangerous. Get out before it's too late!

But she didn't. Hands shaking, she took a deep breath and opened the door.

Yunoki was seated on the bed, and Kahoko was shocked by his appearance. He was dressed in his school uniform, but his jacket and tie had been removed and were draped over the back of a chair. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, his sleeves rolled up. He had dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in days.

Kahoko closed the door behind her, her fingers resting on the lock.

Don't do it. What if you need to escape quickly? You'll only be encouraging him.

She slid the bolt home, and the sound caught Yunoki's attention. He looked up at her and rose to his feet. Kahoko instinctively took a step back, and he seemed to understand her fear. He sat back down on the bed and gestured for her to come to him instead.

She walked forward slowly, stopping when she stood directly in front of him. Gently, Yunoki reached out and took hold of her arm, brushing his fingers over her wrist, tracing the spot where he'd bruised her the last time. He wouldn't meet her eyes. He released her wrist and stood, and Kahoko flinched away from him.

She didn't know what she was expecting him to do, but Yunoki just pulled her close and held her. Her whole body was tensed, ready to flee at the first sign of abuse, but nothing happened. Unconsciously, Kahoko began to relax against him.

Kahoko wondered if maybe she was right, maybe he regretted what he had done. At the same time, she feared his gentleness because the last time he had acted kindly toward her, he'd followed it with cruelty.

Yunoki released her, reaching up with one hand to cup her face. Kahoko realized that his fingers were trembling. He met her eyes and she saw something in his expression, something that was familiar but she couldn't name.

Yunoki leaned down and kissed her softly, lingering for a moment before stepping away. He ran his fingers through his hair and turned away from her, walking toward the window and staring out of it. She saw his hands clench into fists and Kahoko finally realized what it was that she couldn't identify.

The expression on his face a few moments ago, the same one that she'd noticed the night he visited her home—it was fear.

Her instincts told her that this was her chance to leave. That he'd given her space, given her a chance to escape before the tables turned. But the gears in her mind were turning, and Kahoko kept thinking about the text Yunoki had sent today.

"I need you."

Maybe he hadn't intended to be commanding or snarky or even seductive. Maybe he was admitting something that scared him. Something that had taken him a month and a half to build up the courage to say.

Kahoko approached Yunoki, and he watched her reflection in the glass of the window, turning around when she finally reached him. Ignoring the warnings in her head, Kahoko leaned in and kissed him. As he responded, it quickly turned from something gentle to something barely controlled, and she could sense the desperation in Yunoki's touch.

He had her backed up against the wall, shivering from something other than nerves as he kissed his way down her neck. The voices in her mind warning her to leave had quieted, replaced by ones urging her to get on with it already. Her hands slid up his chest, starting to unbutton his shirt, and Yunoki took this as a signal, helping to rid themselves of their clothes and pushing her back onto the bed.

He fumbled in his wallet for a condom, and Kahoko realized that he was impatient, that he was not going to prep her at all, and she cried out as he entered her. He waited and caught his breath before pushing forward, and she could tell that he was trying to take it slow, but his control was quickly slipping. She kept thinking back to that text message.

"I need you."

Yunoki set a quick pace, he was almost too rough, and Kahoko hoped that there wasn't anyone in the hotel room next door.

"I need you."

He reached down, tilting her hips upward and shifting their position, and Kahoko wasn't completely successful at stifling her exclamation of surprise. He moved faster and faster, starting to fall out of rhythm.

"I need you."

He found release, and she followed him right over the edge, digging her fingers into his back and riding it out right along with him.

They lay together afterward, trying to slow their breathing, and Kahoko realized that they hadn't spoken a single word out loud since she'd walked into the room. She got up, gathered her clothes, and went into the bathroom to get cleaned up and dressed (it was a school night, and she didn't want her mother to worry). When she returned, Yunoki was already gone. She picked up her phone and looked through her text messages, realizing that he'd gone through and deleted all of the ones she'd received from him, except the one that said he was sending a car to get her. She gathered the rest of her belongings and exited the room, making her way back to the lobby downstairs.

Even though the message was gone, the words were still fixed in her mind.

"I need you."