Dream Star

Lila nodded and confidently looked at her friends eyes as she replied, "Yes, that"s what I want."

"I see," Kasumi"s disappointed tone didn"t escape her.

She knew Kasumi wasn"t satisfied with her answer. But Lila didn"t want to tell her the reason why. That would mean disclosing Haruka"s secrets, and Lila didn"t want to do that. The tense silence broke when somebody glomped on to Kasumi from the back. A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Emma!"

"h.e.l.lo!"

Kasumi laughed, "You"re late."

"Sorry sorry, I got held up. You won"t believe the tragic; it was hard to by pa.s.s the reporters when my helmet went whoosh and bam because of the weather," Emma explained as she waved her hands around.

"In other words, you were driving recklessly,"

"Aha," Emma laughed, "You caught me, as expected from you."

"Flattery will get you no where."

This girl must be Emma; she seems to be a nice person. It"s rare for Kasumi to get out of her ice Princess Mode. The only person that"s been able to snap her out of it before is her.

.....
An hour and a half later

Lila sighed and sighed again. She had only been here for an hour and a half, and Lila was already regretting coming. Things were bound to change, but that caught her off guard. While when Lila initially saw the sight of Kasumi getting along with somebody else as a good thing. Afterward, Lila felt a pain in her heart and quickly realized that she was jealous. It seemed stupid, but Lila couldn"t deny it. She was jealous. In the past, no other person could get so close to Kasumi but her. "What a contradiction," Lila thought to herself.

It"s a good thing that Kasumi is getting along with other people outside the G.o.ddess4 and G.o.d5, that"s exactly what she wanted right? So why is it bugging her so much now? Is it merely because Kasumi is acting slightly cold towards her and yet treating another person so well? Aaah, what"s with her thoughts. She needs to calm down.

This is why Lila made her way towards one of hers and Kiryu"s secret hiding spots. Even though the rest of the school had changed, Lila noted that there where they had refurbished some new buildings on the grounds and the old ones. The place she headed to was the old stables, while there are still horses kept in that area. Aside from the old groundskeeper n.o.body else other than her and Kiryu knew of that spot. When Kiryu and her started to visit that place, the old groundskeeper slowly entrusted them with the tasks there, and seldom visits. So Lila knew it would be empty now.

Indeed, the moment she got there, she saw it was empty aside from the usual horses. Lila crouched down and sat in front of hers and Kiryu"s favorite horse, as she dwelled on something, "Say, Natasha, why do you think everybody hates me now?"

Sure she left, but everybody"s reaction seemed way too strong. It was strange; why did they react that way? Lila, however, doesn"t get a chance to ponder on her thoughts anymore, when she hears a familiar voice.

"Kiryu-kun? Are you here?"

Lila froze, she really froze.

She felt her heart beat speed up.

Why does Selichan know about this place? This place is a secret place that n.o.body should know about, whenever she and Kiryu snuck of together before they would come here. Why, why does she know? As these crazy thoughts ran through her mind, Lila was fully aware that she was getting closer, so Lila entered the empty place beside Natasha"s stable.

"That"s strange; maybe he isn"t here. Guess I"ll try the other places," Selia murmured to herself.

The other places, she knows about those two? When she and Kiryu enrolled in this school last year, they found numerous places on the school grounds that they called her secret hideout. Lila felt her heartbeat increase more, even though Selichan was already walking away. Her nerves had yet to leave her. Have Kiryu and Selichan really gotten that close? That s.e.x scandal issue aside, Lila didn"t pay any mind to the other rumors saying how close the two were. Rumors are rumors unless she sees it with her own eyes and unless Kiryu himself admits it to her.

Lila shook her head if something is going on between Kiryu and Selichan. Then there would be no need for Kiryu to suffer so much. He could have just ended those rumors in a heartbeat and said that they were in a relations.h.i.+p or he"s courting her. But he didn"t, which means there is nothing between them. A deep sigh escaped her lips; what is she doing? Acting this way now, it feels like since earlier she"s been feeling very restless.

Things have indeed changed now. But she knew they would, so she shouldn"t act in this manner. Whether Kiryu has somebody, he likes, or Kasumi has a new best friend, is no business of hers anymore since she is the one who left them in the first place. Her thoughts broke off when somebody"s hand clasped against her mouth. For a spilt second, Lila panicked when she felt the warmth of the person"s palm. Oh, she knows this scent...

When the last of Selichan"s footsteps is gone, the person let"s go of her mouth, and Lila turned around, "Kiryu," sure enough the person was Austin Kiryu.

"Hey, sorry, I"m late. I wanted to get you a presen--- what"s wrong? Why are you crying?"

Crying? Was she? Lila didn"t know, but just seeing him made her feel so relieved. Even though everything had changed around her, her friends - her cla.s.smates and the school. Lila knew that Kiryu hadn"t changed at all.

….
After she calmed down, Lila told Kiryu everything, "I know I"m probably just overreacting and all that. But I really do feel ...left out," she muttered.

"It"s only natural you would, things have changed, and I"m not going to whitewash my words or hide anything from you. Everybody feels awkward regarding you. They don"t know how to act, the only ones who are relatively normal right now are s.h.i.+chiro and me. Wataru also, though he wants to mediate the situation first."

Ah, so it wasn"t just her imagination.

"Did I destroy everything? By leaving?"

Kiryu shook his head, "It"s not your fault, Lila."

"But it is, I should have kept in touch," while there was a ban regarding no contact at the start. n.o.body said anything about permanent no contact.

"No one can blame you for that; your circ.u.mstances were bad."

"But, sending a message wouldn"t take long."

"With your phone monitored by Soichiro, chances are those messages would never get through."

Lila wore a complicated look on her face as Kiryu kept shooting back everything she said. Why does he have all these excuses for her? Did he plan for this situation? But she has to admit it"s sweet of Kiryu to sit down here with her and sort out her thoughts. It reminds her of old times, and yet so much has changed between them.

"So, what happened to Karas.h.i.+ma?"

"He had a phone call," not had but still talking. At least that"s the impression she got since Haruka had yet to return.

"So, does that mean you can help me with math?"

Eh, math? Kiryu laughed, "I"m flunking right now. I guess I missed out in too many lessons."

Oh.

Lila nodded, and Kiryu grinned, "Great," he reached out and grabbed his rucksack from G.o.d knows where and took out some books and papers.

"It"s strange. Why am I helping you with Math?"

Kiryu laughed, "Well, even geniuses have their moments."

She still finds it odd, though. But indeed, as Lila examined the papers, she could see the mistakes. How careless, it"s not like him to make mistakes like this - no it"s exactly like him. Whenever Kiryu is in deep thought about something, he ends up making mistakes. The only thing that would worry Kiryu so badly is matters regarding her though. So it is her responsibility to help him. Lila spends the next few minutes going through the mistakes and explaining things with Kiryu. She was painfully aware how close he was sitting with her, and how once in a while, his knees would brush against gets but Lila focused on the task at hand.

She knew though that she had to maintain a distance. It would be wrong if things end up like they did when he kissed and hugged her. It seems like getting close is dangerous.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"Mm? Sorry, I can"t?" he said with a relaxed tone, yet a sly smile was on his face.

"Of course you can"t," Lila murmured.

"Then, I will."

Gahhhh! This is one of the things that"s always frustrated her about Kiryu. He always seems to get whatever he wants. This isn"t fair at all, why is she the only one getting all fl.u.s.tered for?

"You should cover up your neck; it"s no wonder people were glaring."

Her neck? Lila"s hands shot to her pocket, and she took out a mirror. Large love bites trailed all over her neck, and all the way down most likely to her chest and even her shoulder blades. "That idiot," Lila thought. She"s going to scold him later. So that"s why people felt weirded out. Minus what Kiryu said, if they all saw this, it"s no wonder they were bad mouthing her. She hasn"t been to school in a long time, and the first thing she does is "show off." Lila didn"t do it deliberately, but she knew many people thought so otherwise.

Kiryu laughed, "Don"t mind it too much. I"m sure they won"t kill you."

Lila recalled the expressions she saw at the gate and the hostility behind those words. It was very deadly, "You don"t have any idea, do you," she sighed. Of course, Kiryu doesn"t know. Even when they were dating each other, he failed to realize these things. Then again, Lila made sure he didn"t notice that people were trying to bully her when they were still dating.

So, there are many things Kiryu didn"t know about. Her suffering when they were dating, and other things. Now that Lila thought about it, she actually kept many things a secret from him.