11 ☆ ( "WATCH YOUR BACK." )

I walked the halls after class, Teacher Fujii's words lingering in my head. I was probably wearing an uncertain frown, my eyebrows creased together in confusion. I kept questioning him, even if he wasn't present: Why did you imply I should take the risk, then? If you doubted me, why think it's a good idea to hurt your other student? What could even be the point of pursuing something if you believe it is unjust?

I initially believed that Teacher Fujii and I were similar, but now, I'm unsure–because if I am to act on logic, then at that moment, I am sure he acted on feeling.

"Sato," Unfamiliar. Her tone was distinct, nothing common to my ear. I stop in my tracks, tightening my grip around the milk that Riki bought me before class began. Slowly, I turn my head and face the person, and I'm proven correct: I've never seen this student before in my life. She flashes me a smile, red ribbons for accessories holding up a thick assembly of hair on each side. I don't walk toward her, forbidding the satisfaction of being acknowledged–and accepting that, she takes four steps toward me.

We still stand at least three steps away from each other, just enough for her to stick her hand out in front of me. "Yamaguchi Hisako."

Her name is as beautiful as her physique. I look at her head-to-toe, firmly analyzing her: I recognize her.

"Nishimura!"

"Oh," Riki smiled and walked to his left, seeing a female holding out a blue water bottle toward him. She smiled as her friends nudged and giggled. "Thank you."

The girl who gave Riki the water bottle back then. The girl I was presumably jealous of, even if I didn't know of her existence. She must've known that I decoded her presence, her hand still adamant on shaking mine. "Yamaguchi," I almost chewed on each syllable. I wanted it to be evident that I didn't like her name, but the more I did, the more irritating her innocent stare became. "Mm. Nice to meet you."

Still, she waited. Her hand, was precious and pristine, with her red-painted nails out. She was a rebel. Hesitantly, I took it. We shook for a moment, her hand squeezed like soft tape around my hand. It wouldn't let go, getting tighter as I pulled–god, her fingers were like a trap box.

Eventually knowing how to escape, I push her hand away from mine, both of us retracting. I took her step backward as a shot for me to leave, but as I turned around to flee from the event, she gently placed a hand on my shoulder.

What irked me most wasn't that she touched me, no. It wasn't that she knew who I was nor that I knew what her motives for trying to intimidate me were.

It was that when she did touch me, she didn't put her whole hand on me. She touched me like a singular thread on a five-hundred-bristle paint brush, barely anything but her presence causing me to halt. I swallowed the hardest I ever had, almost to the point I felt like I could swallow myself whole. It repeated in my head, over and over: She barely touched you. She barely touched you. She doesn't even like you enough to touch you. It's obvious she's disgusted with you. She barely touched you.

"Sato," No. That voice was no longer kind, nowhere near peppy. It sounded menacing like I threatened her even before she got to me, like she was ready to put up a fight–A fight that I didn't prepare for. All I can muster is logic, but when a woman is sacrificing, and willing to be irrational, there is nothing logic can do to help. "I want you to know something. I don't like you."

"Aren't you getting too comfortable with me, Yamaguchi?" I questioned, refusing to turn around and stare at those bloody ribbons of hers. Still, I could sense her smiling, the vision drawn in my head like a memorable painting. "We aren't friends, but you're speaking to me as if I care about what you think."

"You will eventually," Yamaguchi's laugh trickled into my ears, a broken harmony. "Because if you don't care about us–then you might as well kiss your relationship with Nishimura goodbye."

I grit my teeth, replying hastily with, "I don't think that's a decision you make."

"You'd be surprised how many decisions I can make," She said. Yamaguchi sighed, holding back. "Sato, I think you should be wise. There's a line, and you can't just cut it, thinking there would be no reparations."

"What line?" I asked, turning my head just enough for me to see her face. The rest of my body remains facing away from her, a small smirk playing on my lips. "The line of women who seemingly want him? Or, the line that you decided to establish knowing you'd have no chance?"

"Y-You–!"

"Rie!" Familiarity laced in this masculine voice. My lips turned down for a moment, resetting my initial, manipulative expression–and I put on a large smile, hearing footsteps. Yamaguchi and I both face the voice, and Riki's surprised when he sees her face. "Oh, sorry, Rie. Were you talking to someone?"

Someone. Not her surname or her first name. Just... someone.

That bothered her. "You... don't remember me, Nishimura?"

Riki itched his head, taking a few steps toward me and wrapping an arm over my shoulder. I felt my face flush, a beet red that I had to cover by turning my head in his direction. "I apologize, but I don't. Should I?" He tilted his head at Yamaguchi, indicating his innocence. The ribbons in her hair swayed back and forth, not as elegantly as she initially believed–and her position was exposed. "If there's nothing more to say to my girlfriend, we'll be leaving. Thank you for–somehow–knowing who I am."

Yamaguchi swallowed hard, and before I could read the movement of her lips, Riki forcibly spun the both of us to face the other way, the pressure against my body causing me to walk away.

"Did she say anything weird to you, Rie?" The emphasis on the single word made me swallow, causing me to shake my head. I couldn't tell him the truth, no matter how much my heart wanted me to. I knew it would just cause problems beyond fixing–beyond things that could be controlled within my grasp, and that wasn't a lot of things. So, I shook my head one more, confident time, and tried to hold a smile. "That's good. Shall we head back to class?"

I nodded, but before we rounded the corner, right before we entered the hallway that held our classroom, I turned back–

And, I still saw her... standing there.

"You think that Hisako wants to intimidate you?" I'm not too sure why Hanae called Yamaguchi by her first name, but I deemed it as being informal to her on purpose. After all, she wasn't in this train car. Sunoo and Riki had some business to attend to, so I was left with the yet-to-be couple, Jungwon quietly indulged in the drama, but not to the point where he spoke. He just nodded intently–and I had a feeling that it would slip out of his lips. "I wouldn't be surprised. If I'm going to be honest here, she seems like the type to snake around and steal someone else's boyfriend."

"I don't think I necessarily see it that way," I replied, crossing my arms. "I mean, are women really like that over a boy? Is it possible to desire a man who is taken by another woman?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Hanae nodded, frowning. "Sometimes, women can be like that. Men can be the same way. The only logical way to explain it is that people want who they want. Love is uncontrollable."

I looked over at Jungwon, who seemed to agree. I couldn't read the expression on his face because it was also unsure. I pressed my lips together, swallowing hard, and replied, "But how could you want someone that's not yours?"

"It's not a matter of logic, Rie," Jungwon swallowed, making me stare up at him. The train's unstable–the rails causing the train to sway back and forth. Yet, Jungwon remained immobile like a heavy statue. "It's not something everyone stands for and understands. It's like sin."

But, everyone sins. Wouldn't that make me a woman who has the possibility of stealing, too?

"You're not helping her case, Jungwon. Look at her!" Hanae beckoned to my expression, and I could guess I was probably wearing an ill look. "Don't make things too hard for her. She's inexperienced."

"I think you're the one making it hard for her, Hanae," Jungwon stuck out his tongue for a moment, body weight against the pole. "Rie is a person who thinks straight from her brain most of the time. The more you talk about the heart, the more she'll complicate things."

They both stared at me at the same time. The train stopped at a station I couldn't quite place based on scenery, so I sighed. "I think that this goes beyond my jurisdiction."

"You're right," Jungwon nodded, ears perking up at a sound. He turned to his right, straightening his posture. "Or, you could ask your boyfriend about it."

I furrowed my eyebrows and followed Jungwon's stare to see Riki, his bag hanging over his shoulder, waving at us, and Sunoo, moving around the passerby, following his trail. "Rie!" Hanae instantly got up, Riki thanking her briefly before sitting next to me, arms touching. I flushed red, smiling softly.

"I thought you both had something to do?" Jungwon asked them, pointing between them. Sunoo pursed his lips and fixed his glasses, letting out a shaky breath.

"Well, Riki timed everything perfectly–well, almost–and we ran to the train station so that he could–ugh!"

I watched as Riki tapped–no, hit–Sunoo in the side, causing Sunoo to hold the attacked area. "Hah, anyway," Riki exhaled. "I bought you something."

I raised an eyebrow and Riki quickly unzipped his bag. Soon, he pulled out two keychains, or specifically, crocheted flowers hanging off a hook. One was red and the other was white, and he decided to hand me the red one. "For you, baby."

"Dear god," Hanae rolled her eyes, Jungwon elbowing her slightly. "What? You don't look at them and want to barf?"

"I do, but come on, Hanae. Aren't they cute? Right, Sunoo?"

Nothing slipped out of his mouth–just Sunoo turning away as he placed his hand on the bar overhead. Riki ignored them and motioned to my bag. "It's for us to match so people know you're mine, and I'm yours. Isn't it cute?"

"Yeah," I nodded, analyzing it. I couldn't tell what flower it was. Usually, I can, but this time, it was hard to tell with the stitching. "What kind of flower is it?"

Sunoo turned around. He stared while Riki went silent, my boyfriend's Adam's apple bobbing. "I don't know. I just thought it looked cute."

"Oh," I simply said, grinning a little more. "Well, thank you, Riki. I'm honored."

"Of course. Anything for you," After that, he directed his conversation toward the three boys, Hanae listening in, but like Jungwon in our conversation, went wordless.

As I'm attaching the crocheted flower to my bag, my phone goes off. It's a simple ding, but it almost felt... weird. Or, maybe, wrong. I grabbed it out of one of the pockets and sitting at an angle where none of my friends could see it, I opened it up and read the message.

Watch your back.

And it was from... Yamaguchi Hisako.

I swallowed. Hard.

I glanced around the train car. Nobody who I could familiarize as Riki's fangirls. Nobody had her deathly red ribbons in her hair. Nobody was close enough to me to hear our conversation, because only one name was dropped.

I don't know how she got my number, but it bothered me.

It bothered me to my core.

But I read the message a second time. Then, I turned my phone off, shoving it into the depths of my bag pocket.

And... I said absolutely nothing.

Nothing... at all.