• ATTENTION. READ OTHER CHAPTERS FIRST.

    Chapter 1 [Embarrassing I know, but it's exposition.]
    Chapter 2 [Better-ish?]
    Chapter 3~



    “Yes,” I confessed, hoping that she wouldn't hurt me.

    Suzumi stared back at me, anger written on her face.

    “Are you mad...? I’m sorry...”

    Her frown quickly disappeared. “N-no...I’m fine! So, um, are you going out with him now?”

    “NO! ...I mean, no, of course not. You can have him...if you like him or something.”

    “No , it’s okay,” Suzumi quickly said. But she looked happier.


    I didn’t see Kai at school the next day. Or the next. By the 4th day, Friday, I was getting worried. Where had he gone? I couldn’t help feeling that it was my fault somehow. He had seemed odd the last time I’d seen him.

    Suzumi looked as if she was missing him too. She’d stare at the door in the morning, waiting for him to come in. She tried to be stealthy about it, but I noticed. So what if she likes him too, I thought. I had said that she could have him.

    He came back to school the following Monday, looking angry again. Suzumi scampered over to him, asking if he had been sick. He glared at her. She shrunk back from him, and slumped in her seat. I felt sorry for her. She hadn’t done anything to Kai. I boldly walked up to him, not afraid of his scowl.

    “Where were you?! Suzumi and I were worried, you could have been dead for all we knew,” I snapped. He gazed back at me.

    “When did you start caring about me so much? It’s not your business where I go. Don’t act like my friend when you’re nothing but a stupid little girl,” he growled.
    I gaped at him, shocked. “I’m not a stupid little girl. Don’t act like you know me,” I choked out. I silently slipped into my seat, eyes burning. You can’t cry, Kasumi. I ordered myself. I managed to smile for the rest of math.

    After class, Suzumi came up to me. “Are you okay, Kasumi? That jerk, I’ll kick his a** for you! What’s his problem?!” I smiled at her, but said that hurting him wouldn’t be needed. I was beginning to think that he had some kind of multiple personalities thing going on. I’d wait to see if “good Kai” resurfaced before letting Suzumi at him.

    At lunch, Kai started walking towards our table. Suzumi and I stiffened. She glared at him. Not noticing her death stare, Kai sat down beside me. I scooted away from him. He grinned.

    “You’re so timid, Kasumi. Loosen up.”

    Annoyed, I moved to the other side of the table. He got up to follow me. I whirled around.

    “Stop stalking me! Don’t you have better things to do than follow ‘stupid little girls’ around? Go find someone else to harrass,” I fumed, not noticing that everyone in the room was gaping at me. Oops. That was a little loud.

    I slowly sat back down. Suzumi beamed at me, and gave me a high five. Kai looked hurt. So what. It was his fault. He has no right to act like that and expect me to feel sorry for him. I tried to stay angry at him. But his lost-puppy face overpowered me. When I passed him on the way out of the room, I reluctantly whispered my apology. “I’m sorry...”

    Kai looked up, stunned. I guess he wasn’t expecting me to talk to him. He gave me a little smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. His miserable, distressed eyes.

    “Can you tell me what’s wrong...? You look so sad all the time now.” I braced myself for another “why should you care, stupid little girl” comment. He was silent for a little bit, before he answered.

    “Because I can’t be with you.”

    My mouth dropped open. If he liked me so much, why had he called me a stupid little girl? “It’s a trick, Kasumi! He’s messing with you, trying to make you feel sorry for him!”

    Kai looked at me expectantly.

    “Don’t try to trick me like that! My life isn’t a game. You’re pretty sick to get a kick out of getting my hopes up and then crushing me,” I replied.

    “Kasumi, this isn’t a trick. Don’t you trust me?” he pleaded. I stopped to think. I shouldn’t trust him, after all he’d done. But, for some mysterious reason, I did.

    “Yes, I trust you. But only when you’re ‘good Kai.’”

    “What? Good Kai?” He looked down at me, confused. I looked into his eyes, and repeated myself.

    “Sometimes you’re good Kai, and then you switch to ‘evil Kai,’” I explained.

    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said stubbornly. But his eyes flashed with something...fear? Panic?

    To make him laugh, I jokingly said “Are you even human? You’re too weird,” I giggled.

    He looked me in the eyes. “Do you really want to know?”

    Thinking he was going along with the joke, I nodded.

    “I’m not.”