Gakushū resisted the urge to smack his ears to check if they were working right. Did he hear correctly? "W-what? Karma" he stammered, disbelieving the situation.

Karma was glowing under the moon light. The silver beams on his fair complexion made him appear to be shining under the night, he was so beautiful, with the wind tousling his bangs. "I- err-" the red head embarrassedly looked to the side, blushing

"Karma could you say it one more time?" Gakushū gently pushed. He wanted to hear Karma say those sweet words again to make sure he didn't mishear. "Stupid...you should clean your ears more Gakushū!" Karma grumbled. "I said I'm in love with you"

"In love with..me?" Gakushū repeated. "Wow your hearing must be really bad, hehe , want me to say it again?" Karma said trying to mask his embarrassment and nervousness, his face still beet red.

"Karma, you're in love with me" Gakushū said in awe, which confused and relieved Karma. "He's not...upset, if anything he's more confused...happy?"

"Since high school" Karma confirmed, taking advantage of the astounded Gakushū. "I was always teasing you or giving you a hard time, because I just wanted you to notice me...which was stupid and made you hate me more. I know I should have just asked you act like any normal person but-" still blushing the redhead placed a hand behind his neck

"I was scared to get turned down" He revealed.

"The great Akabane, scared?" Gakushū chuckled.

"Yeah" Karma admitted without a pause. "Because I didn't want to lose what little respect I had garnered from you. Our rivalry meant a lot to me because it meant you acknowledged me as an equal, and that was enough to make me happy"

"Is that the reason why you were always challenging me to meaningless games like 'who could clean the classroom the fastest' 'who could run up E-class's mountain and reach the old building first' 'who could solve this equation' this and that?" Gakushū raised an amused brow

"Well it worked didn't it?" Karma pouted, making Gakushū chuckle.

"As for your inapproriate flirting with me, those weren't simply a way to rile me up?" Gakushū remembered the times back at school when Karma would 'pretend' to hint at wanting to date him--- well he supposed it wasn't pretend all along

"No, I was always serious" Karma declared. "I failed to take the hint" Gakushū sighed. "But to be fair" he smirked. "You never knew I liked you back either so that meant I was just as good at hiding my true feelings, and you were just as dense"

"What?" Karma looked confused.

"I liked you for the longest time Karma. Your strength of mind caught my eye and how you, never waver from your goals made me fall for you. You were a menace to my emotions as much as you were a menace to the teachers. I thought at first what I felt was simple admiration but that was not the case"

"I'm surprised high school Gakushū wasn't disgusted to have a crush on the same gender, let alone an E-class student" Karma said with a raised brow.

"I was...hesitant to accept my feelings at first, but I had a supportive best friend who cheered for me so...it didn't take long for me to fully accept my liking for you" Gakushū explained.

Karma remembered Sakakibara Ren, who always stood by Gakushū's side throughout everything. He knows there's no need to be but he feels a bit jealous of Ren.

"And then?" Karma nervously played with his wedding ring.

"Like you, I wanted to ask you out for a date" Gakushū rubbed the back of his neck. "But, I never found the courage nor the chance. I wasn't like you in that department, I wasn't bold and I wasn't" blushing he forced himself to continue "I wasn't like you "

"What do you mean Shū?" Karma tilted his head.

"You flirted with me, teased me, and always tricked me into spending time with you. I meanwhile did nothing to show or hinted any interest in you for you to pick up on, and then what happened? Soon graduation arrived and we were walking two seperate paths. I lost you" Gakushū too, played with the ring in his finger

"But you never lost your feelings for me?" Karma hesitantly asked

"Heh, no. You were often on my mind" Gakushū said with a smile. Karma felt his heart beat faster

"I was often wondering 'where is Karma?' Or 'what is that redhead doing now' or 'Has he changed much from the last time I saw him?' and even 'I miss him' "

"He was always thinking of me?" Heat flared in Karma's cheeks again. He spun the ring around his finger.

"I was very happy when I saw you at the reunion, but I didn't know how to approach you" Gakushū continued. "I thought 'wow he barely changed, he can still make my heart skip a beat' "

"You're the one making mine do the same" Karma's inner conscious wanted to cover his face to hide his emarassment, he knew his face was entirely red.

"This situation we're in..." Karma began. "I kept thinking 'I don't want this to end' " he whispered.

"Me too" Gakushū admitted

Karma looked into Gakushū's shining violet eyes. Those eyes held love, love for him. Slowly the two approached each bother, held each other and locked lips.

_________________________

Ren typed away at his keyboard and double clicked his mouse. The picture on the screen lagged for two minutes, before it started running smoothly again. Ren typed a code before pressing enter

The extremely pixelated picture soon loaded and became clearer, Ren could finally make out the face of the person in the hoodie.

It was Okuda

"Well damn" Ren muttered. "Okuda? Seriously? This caught me off guard, can't believe I thought it was Nagisa or some crazy random person"

He reached for his phone and made a call