Thursday, September 24th

(Y/n) began wondering why she hadn't seen Kenzan after school the previous day. He had promised her he would take the girl home but after looking around, she had not found any sign of him in the school, and opted to go home alone. 'He was probably busy. It's only understandable, he has a lot of things to think of without me dumping my problems on him.' The girl sighed and was about to stretch her arms when someone came up from behind her and began assaulting her sides with tickles. "Ahaha! Stop stop-! Mercy!" She felt her knees weaken and for a second it seemed she would fall to the ground if there weren't a pair of arms holding her in place.

"Daaww, I never knew you were so ticklish (Y/n)." Ryo cheerfully smiled at the defeated girl and rubbed her head. "How's my angel this morning?"

(Y/n) fixed her disordered hair and sighed heavily, "I'm fine...just can't wait until I get over this." The blond quietly watched the girl's stressed state and prepared to wrap his arms around her as a means of comfort. "Kenzan!" (Y/n) jolted forward to wave at the boy up ahead, avoiding the other male's touch. The girl prepared to run up to her childhood friend but stopped as she took notice of the expression he made. It was a face filled with hurt and betrayal, a face that had never been directed towards the girl before, until now. "Kenzan...?" The boy clearly seemed torn on discussing a subject with his friend but simply turned around and continued walking. "Hey, wait-" But before she could get any closer, Ryo pulled her back and kept her still.

"Come on angel, you're not going to give me some attention?" (Y/n) looked at him with a torn expression.

"But Ryo, he looks upset. I need to see what's wrong." The female made the first steps in approaching the other male that was currently far up ahead of them, when she stopped at Ryo's words.

"You weren't concerned when I got upset yesterday..." The boy's voice was low and hurtful, intentionally said in a quiet manner to seem as a second thought but loud enough to be caught by the female. (Y/n) quickly turned around to contradict the actor, who was irritatingly looking at the ground.

"Ryo it's not that I don't care." However, her weak excuse had no effect on the teenager who still moped at her actions. "...Alright, I'll stay. I'm sorry."

The blond had an immediate change of mood and tightly hugged the girl, making sure no escape was possible from his embrace. "Let's go then! I want to spend a bit more time with my angel before we depart!"

Time Skip

Lunchtime seemed to cheer the girl up a bit when she could finally enjoy a proper meal without the stress on her thoughts. Though her curiosity was still playing on her mind at what her love interest was unnerved over. 'Did I say something wrong? Last time we spoke he seemed pretty happy...' When her wondering could no longer be helped she found herself walking around the building, looking for the specified boy. Just as she found her attempts vain, she spotted the student she had been searching for. "Kenzan! Dude, hey." However, as she approached the male he seemed to take notice of the oncoming girl and turned the other way with a nuance of reprehensibility to his manner. (Y/n) stopped herself on the spot at his retreat, baffled at what she had done wrong to have him react like that towards her. "W-wait-" A hand reach around her waist and without a sign of warning began to spin the panicked girl, while she struggled in the arms. "No, please let go!" Complying with her wishes, the person set her down. The girl looked at who the rowdy boy was to see Bako's confused face looking down on her with worry.

"I didn't hurt you did I?" He began checking the girl for any signs of pain but she simply shook him off.

"No, I just wanted to catch up with Kenzan." The mention of the other boy's name sent a surge of disgust and envy through the cobalt-eyed male. as he noticed the girl's departing posture, he held her on the spot.

"Bako, what are you doing?!" She tugged against him but there was little tolerance for her obdurate behaviour.

"He can go around on his own, I want you to stay with me." Just as she was about to abrogate his demand he proceeded to walk in the opposite direction, dragging her along.

"Bako, please he seems sad, just let me talk to him." But Bako simply ignored her pleads and the looks of the bystanders that were sent their way.

"I'll let you go if you promise to come to my house this week." The girl ceased her struggling and seemed thoughtful at the offer.

"Fine, fine. Just let me catch up with him." With a reluctant sigh, he hesitantly let go of the girl who dashed in the other area. Bako watched as the she disappeared into the crowd and tusked with annoyance.

'Fine, go to him. Let's see if he's smart enough to back off now.'

Time Skip

(Y/n) solemnly walked to her geography class, disheartened that she had not been able to locate her companion and wasted her lunch time looking for him. As she was in deep daydream she got startled by a tapping sensation on her head. "That's ｍｙ seat." The girl looked up into the steel eyes of her geography partner and noticed she was sitting in an unfamiliar place.

"Oh, sorry..." She shifted into her own area, rested her elbows on the desk and relaxed her head in her hands. "I didn't notice. I'm so distracted these days that I bumped into a trash can on the way here and said 'sorry'. Haha..." Her slight laugh seemed forced and unconvincing, causing her mood to further plummet.

Hiroko stood aside, watching the female with a neutral expression, trying to figure out what to say to his crumpled partner. He let out a hefty exhalation and sat down in his seat beside her, "Whats got you in such a wreck?" (Y/n) simply shook her head as a response. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong." The girl repeated her previous gesture, clear that she had no interest and slacked the subject. "...(Y/n), have you been saying weird stuff about a certain boy?" The (h/c) haired girl rose her head to look into the boy's eyes.

"What...?" Hiroko furrowed his brows in deep thought, seemingly trying to confirm something that had been lingering on the back of his mind.

"There's been rumoured that you've been speaking some pretty two-faced things about a friend of yours." (Y/n) could only afford a reaction of alarm at this new information.

"What? Where did this come from?" The gang leader carefully analysed the shocked girl and despite the shocking news, gave a relieved grin.

"I knew you're not that type of person." His relief got cut short by the girl pinching his arm, causing the boy to wince at the shot of pain.

"What are you talking about? What rumours?!" The female continued to shake her partner with urgency while Hiroko looked at the girl with slight sympathy and exhaled.

"There's talk that you've been talking behind someone's back. I already know the answer, but is this true?" He seemed to get his response through the baffled and astonished girl's face.

"What...? Wait, who have I been talking about?" Now that this new notice had arrived, pieces seemed to click together in her mind over the events up until now.

"Its a new guy that arrived at school just this week. If I remember correctly, he's a relative of your two friends." The moment the words left the male's mouth, a nauseous feeling began going through the girl, the optimism she previously had, now rendered to blighted hopes. A critical sense of panic started rushing alongside the adrenaline, (Y/n) began breathing deeply to calm, and convince herself that she could fix this. "(Y/n), keep calm. What's wrong?" Hiroko looked around to make sure she was attracting no attention from onlookers and carefully rubbed her back.

"No, I can't make another mistake. I can't lose someone else..." Severe anxiety took over and (Y/n) was ready to sprint out of the lesson, uncaring whether she would get in trouble or attempt to be intervened.

"Calm down. You'll talk to this guy after this, now just relax a bit." It was easier said than done for the girl, who was still contemplating over what should be done. She tried to occlude the feelings of worry and fear at the back of her mind but each one worry clawed their way back through in the end, leaving traces of fear.

Time Skip

Spending the last 2 hours in horrid anxiety and sickly worry had an unhealthy effect on the girl's mental and physical state. The second she was free from her last lesson, her feet automatically began running through the school to search for the boy. In her dazed stupor, she ran into a few departing students and teachers, but hadn't the voice or sense to apologise.

As the minutes seemed to last for hours, as it didn't seem like she had made any progress in her search. She was about to collapse in defeat when she spotted a group of males she had seen the previous day. She quickly ran to them and bristly stopped the gang. "Excuse me, but do you know where I can find Kenzan?" The boy took a moment to recognise the female and pointed her in a general direction. "Thank you!" She flew to the assigned spot, pacing her breath, turning a few corners and nearly pushing aside innocent bystanders to reach her target.

For the moment, it didn't seem like he was anywhere in sight and (Y/n) considered the possibility that he left for home. The occupying worry finally finding a place to duplicate within her, she started to shiver on the spot. Just as she believed all hope was lost, she spotted the boy's form turning a corner and quickly sped up after him. When she had caught up with him she grabbed the male by the arm and forced him to spin around and see her breathless state. "K-Kenzan...please, it's not..." She attempted to catch her gasps and ended up huffing out her words. The boy simply stood looking at the exhausted girl with an empathetic face. He waited patiently for the girl to normalise her breathing pattern and look up. "Kenzan listen...please, whatever you've heard, it's not true. I would never say anything behind your back, please." She gave him a pleading look and it seemed to soften his features for a split second, but he immediately switched back to his scornful gazes.

"I didn't think that in the start either. Rumours are just idiotic gossip, and I could never believe you would say such insulting stuff." The girl gave a relieving smile and was about to hug the boy, had he not continued his sentence. "That is until last night, when I got an e-mail from the Institute and they told me they got an anonymous message from an individual to inform them that I apparently fabricated my study history, along with my educational information and background." (Y/n) could barely believe what he was telling her and what he was inferring to.

"You think Ι sent them the message?" The boy fidgeted in discomfort at the spot and sighed at the question.

"At first, I didn't want to believe it, but the only people that know about this besides my sisters and parents, is you. (Y/n), this could ruin my future if I don't give them proper certification, you know how important it is for me to get into this College and because of this they will most defiantly dismiss me. Heck, I'll be lucky if any other College accepts me after a slander like this." He glared down at the female, looking at her like a judge staring into the face of a guilty criminal.

"Kenzan please, I would never do anything like this to you. I would never try and ruin your future no matter for what reason." The boy simply shook his head, all her please bouncing off and reflecting back as shamed bullets.

"Then who would do this?" The girl fell silent, stuck at the question and could simply answer that it was not her. "There's none else, I asked my sisters and they gave me proof that they were not in the position in sending the memo. You're the only one left." The girl shook her head but could not force a word out, scared that anything spoken will work against her, and felt tears well up at the indication of all this. "Then it got me thinking about the rumours and weather they were true or not..."

"Please, you can't be serious." A tear escaped from the crushed girl's eyes and for a moment the boy made a move to wipe it away in consolation but reluctantly retreated back. Her throat began to ache from the withholding pain and even her words choked her.

"And then you sent me those weird texts and it just messed up with my brain...I've gotta go now. Goodbye (Y/n)"

"What texts? I don't even have my phone. Kenzan!" Before she could find the courage to explain to him, and confirm her innocence he waves her excuse off. With the last farewell, this seemed to conclude their friendship as he left the female to suffer in silence.

As the boy's footsteps disappeared into the stillness, the girl was left on her lonesome to weep. Her sobs and hiccups echoed off the walls to her deplorable state. Her body began to uncontrollably shake and her knees started giving in under her weight from the queasy feeling. After a few minutes of crying, she sensed two arms wrapping themselves around her and for a moment of hope, she thought it was the boy that neglected her in that state. But was disheartened at the sight of who it truly was. "K-Kaito?"

"(Y/n)? What's got you so doleful?" The girl tried to get a word out but only choking sounds emerged which exacerbated her whimpers. As a response to this, the boy pulled her close to his chest and let the female's tears dry on his shirt while she was kept in a secure clasp. "Sshhh, just let it all out." The girl complied with the wish and returned the boy's embrace as she felt at comfort within his arms. At that moment, all she needed was some tenderness and solace, and the boy knew that very well. He took the chance to comb his fingers through each strand of hair and cares her damp cheek with uncharacteristic tenderness. "That's right, you don't need to worry anymore. You'll be taken care of."