(Thursday)

Nemesis-kun couldn't have moved away. He has to still be here. I left the house early and ran all the way to Nemesis-kun's house.

Once I got there, I knocked on his door and waited for him to answer. "Nemesis-kun, it's me. Please, I need to talk to you." I said, knocking again.

Is he not home? I took out a piece of paper and wrote how I needed to talk to him. After slipping it under his door, I left for school.

"There you are, Amaya. I've been looking for you." Ayano said as she found me changing my shoes. "What's up?" I asked.

"I'd like to know what's going on between you and Borupen."

"What about him?"

"Before you start frowning at me, I want to tell you that I only heard this from the Phone Addicts."

"What did you hear?"

"Only that you and Borupen have been spending a lot of time together."

"I've only been helping him with his artwork."

"That's all?"

"Yeah, that's all."

Ayano sighed. "Mindless gossip. Sorry about the accusation." She apologized. "It's okay. Don't worry about it." I said. Ayano gave me a small wave, then walked down the hallway.

I went to the roof of the school and stood by the railing as I took out my sketchpad. I've been taking a little bit of Borupen's advise and drew how I saw things.

It was a sunny day as birds sang as they flew by. But to me, I saw dark clouds surrounding the sky with crows sitting on trees, watching my every move.

I sketched what I saw until it was time to go to class.

(Lunchtime)

"Hold up there, Little sis," Yan-kun said as he stopped me from leaving the classroom. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"Nowhere special. Just to the workshop on the second floor." I answered. "What for?" He asked. "No reason." I replied.

"Amaya, be honest with me. What happened between you and Nemesis?"

I looked at him with slightly widened eyes. "I haven't been seeing much of you two. As in, I noticed you guys aren't... you know, together." He stated.

"Was it that obvious?" I asked. "Not really. It took me a while," He answered. "So, what happened between you two? Did you guys break up?"

I slowly looked down at the floor and nodded my head. "All right. Where is the guy so I can kick his ass?"

"Yan-kun, don't. It's not his fault. It's mine." I admitted, looking at him. "How so?" Yan-kun asked. "Because I'm the one who ruined our relationship." I explained.

"How'd you do that?" He questioned. I shook my head, letting him know I didn't want to talk about it. "Right... Sorry if I was prying you."

"No, that's okay. You're just trying to be a good big brother. Excuse me, I have to go." I said. I left the classroom and went to the workshop.

"What took you so long?" Borupen asked as he handed me my painter's smock. "I'm sorry. My brother wanted to speak to me." I explained.

"Oh... Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. Listen, instead of painting today, could we sculpt something?"

"Sure. What do you want to sculpt?"

"Whatever you like."

Borupen smiled at me, then led me over to the sculpting section.

"I'm going to sculpt the skull from the Occult Club. I've already memorized it in my head, so I don't need to go by there and sculpt the details," Borupen explained. "Let me see your sketchpad."

I pulled it out of my bag and handed it to him. Borupen looked through them before stopping on a certain page. "This one looks interesting." He commented.

"Which one?" I asked, in which he showed it to me.

"What made you draw this?" Borupen asked. "It's from a dream I had last night." I explained. "Nightmare?" He guessed.

"It looks like it, doesn't it? But it didn't feel like a nightmare. Strange, right?" I replied. "Quite the opposite, in fact," Borupen said, making me smile. "When did you draw it?"

"Last night. After I had that dream, I couldn't go back to sleep. So, I decided to paint out what I dreamt."

"Did you go back to sleep after that?"

"Surprisingly, yes. Could you help me sculpt a crow?"

"Sure thing."

We got started on our sculptures while we helped each other out. We weren't able to finish our work since lunchtime was over, so we agreed to come back after school during club activities.

I quickly hurried back to class while holding my sketchpad to my chest. When I turned the corner, I rammed into Kizana, causing both of us to fall on our behinds.

"I can never catch a break with you, can I, Aishi?" She said with a glare. "I'm sorry." I apologized. "Hmph!" Kizana stood to her feet, dusted herself off, then walked past me.

'I feel sorry for the guy who decides to ask her out in the future. He's gonna have a handful.' I thought. I went to pick up the sketchpad I had dropped until a hand picked it up for me.

I lifted my head to see that Oko was the one who had picked it up. He was examining the picture of my dream last night as he didn't say anything.

"This is a frightening piece." Oko mentioned. "I know." I replied while standing to my feet. "Does it have a name?" Oko asked. "No. No name." I answered.

"Oh... That's a shame," He said, handing the pad back to me. "I didn't know you had a passion for art."

"We all have our secrets. Excuse me, but I really need to head back to class." I said, then jogged down the hall. The bell rang the same time I sat at my desk.

(After school)

"What are you doing?" Borupen asked as I placed a white sheet over our unfinished sculptors. "Let's finish these tomorrow." I said before facing him.

"Tomorrow?" He repeated. "Why? I thought you wanted to finish them after class?"

"I just got an idea while I was in class. Can I sketch you?" I asked. "Huh?" Borupen asked, raising a brow at me.

"You sketched me yesterday, so I thought I'd return the favor," I said. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Knock yourself out," He replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Should I sit or stand?"

"It doesn't matter." I said. He took a seat and gazed out the window, watching the Sports Club while I sketched him. Once I was finished, I set my utensils down.

"Can I see?" He asked. "Be my guest." I replied, and he walked over to me to look at my work.

"Not bad. You're better at this than I thought." Borupen commented. I looked at him while he smiled at me, so I gently smiled back.

The more time I spend with Borupen, the more I start to forget about Nemesis-kun. Can I really forget him? He hasn't called back, so does that mean he's moved on?

In that case... I guess this really is goodbye...