Dream Star

After parting ways with Misaki, he decided it would be better to head back to the school. Lately, he stays in the dorms a lot. Maybe because he didn"t have anywhere else to go, whenever he stayed in his room in the Austin family manor, he would remember Lila. That increases more whenever Sumire-san invites him to stay over, and he stays in Lila"s room. Kiryu opened the door and slumped onto the bed, without bothering to change or anything.

It would be easier if he just fell asleep, but of course, he isn"t sleeping without thinking of Lila.

In the time they were apart from each other, he exhausted his own tears thinking of the girl. He could not even call her name. Even now that they have reunited, Kiryu understood it fully well..; that their paths are not the same. But at the end of his path, her shadow will always be there. He clings to the hope that she will find true happiness. That no matter what happens, she will be happy.

He remembers when he was younger before he started to hate his half-sister. They had a conversation about love.

Akari she wasn"t wrong. He did find someone like that. Find someone who cares about him, someone who loves him from the very bottom of their heart. However, even after finding someone like that, it seems like it wasn"t meant to be.

Lila, she didn"t have to cry. He understood it already. He"s already long understood it. Even if they loved each other so profoundly once upon a time, there would always be someone else that she loves and cares more about. The one Lila loves is indeed Karas.h.i.+ma, and the one who is giving her strength is certainly without a doubt, Karas.h.i.+ma. But the one who understands her the most right now is probably Ichinose. In the end, there is no longer any place for him, but to be in the shadow. Whenever he turns his back to her, he becomes afraid that he won"t be able to see her again since danger is always lurking.

After these events, Kiryu was even more reluctant than before to leave her. Even so, he chose to leave, for her smile. All he wants is her happiness. Her happiness equals his happiness. Realizing it was futile trying to sleep, Kiryu stood up and left the room. A packet of cigarettes in hand he proceeded towards the balcony area on the edge of the fifth floor. Thoughts still wandering onto Lila.

She didn"t have to cry for him and yet is it okay for him to say that he"s happy to see those tears? Happy to see that even now after all that"s happened, she will shed tears for him? For now, it is over, but; he recalled the scandal affair in the newspaper. He was one of the first people to see it - and to say he had been surprised is one thing.

Her happiness equals his happiness... And yet he still kissed her after that. He really is a low guy, isn"t he? After all, she said he didn"t think he would receive such a reaction from her. She turned completely red, was she not expecting it? Did he catch her off guard?

"Are you going for a walk your highness?" he turned and spotted pale hair, "Would you like me to accompany you?"

Kiryu sighed, "Don"t start with that nickname too."

"I found it amusing," s.h.i.+chiro commented.

"Where"s Kasumi?"

"I invited her along, but she decided to leave it up to me."

Kiryu blinked in confusion at s.h.i.+chiros words, and his friend didn"t hesitate at all, as he asked, "Kiryu, did something happen between you and Lila?"

He freezes up, then causing his companion to laugh.

"Seems like I"m right."

He would rather not mention this since there are too many watchful eyes. But s.h.i.+chiro doesn"t look like he"s going to drop the subject and even if he does. It looks like Kasumi is interested too.

". . We kissed, I initiated it."

s.h.i.+chiro blinked in disbelief before exclaiming, "Are you sure you didn"t dream it up or something?"

"Like h.e.l.l, I"d dream of that---" he pauses in mid-sentence. No wait, he might have done so. On the day he kissed her, he had a rather vivid dream and woke up quite embarra.s.sed. So maybe it was just a dream. No, she wouldn"t pull such an expression if he was dreaming.

"Then..what about Lila?"

"She said nothing, "Kiryu said. They ran into Karas.h.i.+ma right after that so... But either way, even if they were given more time, she probably wouldn"t have been able to say anything.

"Nothing? No reactions either?"

"She looked surprised and blushed," and got mad. But Kiryu won"t tell s.h.i.+chiro that.

Her guard was indeed down, but that expression is genuine, isn"t it? He had seen it once before, back in middle school when he kissed her the first time. Although that one was accidental, she had the same expression back then.

"She blushed?!!!" s.h.i.+chiro exclaimed.

"What? I didn"t dream it up, and it wasn"t an illusion either," though right after that he said something about not minding it and the two of them becoming friends. "What an idiot," Kiryu thought. Friends? Friends? After all that? Lila isn"t that clueless; she can probably see through his hidden motives. And yes he has them, even if he is a gentleman. When it comes to Teras.h.i.+ma Lila, he loses control of himself.

"She blushed ha... I see..."

It was the same expression as back then. That"s why even though they had such a conversation, the feeling of not wanting to lose. Karas.h.i.+ma said it then too, about fighting fair and square. So backing down even after hearing such a declaration would be lame, wouldn"t it? Indeed, despite such a serious speech, all he thought about was embracing her and kissing her. The hug aside...the kiss was uncalled for during that time, and yet he really couldn"t help it even more so after seeing that expression on her face.

His gaze landed on the pitch black skies, as a light gust of wind blew, "I"ve always felt this way towards her. From the very moment, I met her. I was in love with her already. People always say that love, at first sight, is cliche. But for me, it was undoubtedly the case. Going out with each other and romantic relations.h.i.+ps, as well as acts of affections, didn"t seem relevant at all to survive. As a member of the elite, too, it seemed even more irrelevant. Since most elite marriages are arranged and for political purposes. If you can marry without love, then is there any real reason for it? "

"When you met her, that thought changed?"

Kiryu laughed, "Yes, almost immediately. Even though I was so resolved not to fall in love with someone. The second I met Lila all of that disappeared in an instance. Although I completely abandoned the idea of love on the surface, I was still curious and asked Akari.

"If I want to be with her forever. And I received her reply, as a yes. Can I truly believe her words? How do I know she isn"t pretending? How do I know it"s an answer she gave from the very bottom of her heart?"

"It sounds like you were more than just curious."

"Perhaps," Kiryu reached over and extended his palm to towards the night sky.

"I do love her. No matter how many women I encountered in the time, I was apart from her. I realized there really is only one for me. I intend to tell her again when this is all over my feelings."

That"s right. He will tell her properly once all of this is over and declare it with the highest form of respect. Right now a lot is going on, so asking her would be pointless. She would definitely end up in tears like before if someone were to ask or at least make it obvious enough for her to see. Right now he can"t, and it"ll probably be a painfully long wait before he can say it properly. However, that"s fine; he will wait for as long as he has to.

Friends? Yeah, this will be difficult.

But if it fails it fails, Kiryu isn"t the type of person to just sit around and wait. If the friend"s things don"t work out, he will pursue Lila for real regardless of Karas.h.i.+ma"s feelings. That may be cruel of him, but he loves Lila. Letting her go again, he doesn"t want to do that.