*sees previous chapter*

*smh at the no. of votes*

And you wonder why I feel less and less motivated on this book.

I'm gonna make up a lot of stuff in this chap cuz i forgot everything haha

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Kyoko's PoV

"Kyoko, do you like him? Romantically?" Taku popped out the question out of nowhere. I swallowed. He is a detective, after all.

"I don't understand your sudden question, of course I don't." I answer calmly while looking up straight ahead.

A small laugh escaped his lips, "When you lie, you look straight forward to avoid eye contact."

I felt a pang at my chest. Takumori knows me so well, I've never gotten away with lying to him before. That's why I always have this feeling at the back of my head that sooner or later he's going to find out about the auctions.

"...You caught me."

Jayden's PoV

"Hey, hey, hey look!" Yoshiro jumped up and down like a monkey then pointed his thumb backwards. I follow his thumb and see Takumori walking with Kyoko.

"Those two are childhood friends, you know, they've known each other since they were in diapers!" Yoshiro says to everyone around who's curious.

Childhood friend turned lovers are pretty nice. I mean, look at how comfortable Kyoko is around him.

I wonder what they're talking about. I thought as the others were busily chatting about them. I let my camera hang around my neck and looked ahead.

But my short-lived attention was soon dragged away by the primitive forest that came up. There might even be animals in there. I took up my camera again and zoomed in on a spot to see if I can see any.

Instead, I saw a human.

In camouflage.

Holding a rifle.

Aiming at...

I follow the mouth of his rifle and looked back. He's aiming directly at Kyoko...!

Without second thought, I sprinted towards her, "watch out!"

"Jayden, what're you--?" Before anyone could ask, I leapt up and pushed her down. The path was dusty, but I'm sure she'd rather have that than a bullet wound. Takumori immediately understood my drill and squatted down.

*Bang* 

The lake beside us rippled suddenly, showing that the bullet passed air and landed into the water.

I glance back up, the sniper's just picking up his gun, attempting to flee. Our professors at the front of the group fired a few times to scare him off. He fled, and it's too dangerous to follow him.

"We gotta move, fast." Takumori says as he gets back up after double-checking our surroundings.

As soon as my senses relax, I realize my position. In a rush, I had pulled Kyoko's head into my chest and turned my back towards the sniper. Realization kicks in fast as my heart rate sped up.

"Uh...are you alright?" I ask, a little embarrassed. 

Kyoko's PoV

I was about to tell Taku the truth when Jayden yelled and came running towards me. My guard was down and it didn't occur to me until my back collided with the path and a gun shot was heard.

My senses were dulled. His scent, broad chest and hand at the back of my head was all I could think of. This is pathetic, what have I become?

"Are you alright?" He held out his hand.

I'm getting too comfortable.

"Yeah, thanks for that. I don't know why I didn't sense that." I sit up.

Remember my life is targeted as soon as I was born.

I ignore his hand and got up on my own, then dusted my clothes.

I can't afford to go soft by liking someone.

"Sorry about your shirt." I say, since his white shirt was now covered in mud.

I've been asleep for the past two weeks, this incident has finally woke me up.

"Let's go." 

I mustn't become attached. His life will be targeted too.

That night, I stayed in the bath tub for about two hours. 

Love is trouble, there's no doubt about that. Look what kind of problems mom has brought upon herself when she fell in love. It's just a superficial thing people use to comfort themselves. It makes them weak.

Though no matter what I thought, there's no denying that my heart reacts to his presence. 

I very much do have feelings for him.

"That's why, I'm getting rid of it no matter what." I state as I rise from the bath to get out.

Mamoru's PoV

I got a grasp of the situation today from Sakai. I never thought they'd go as far as try to snipe Kyoko. This is bad. 

Looks like several former members of the AIDs are still trying to avenge their leader and reform their group. Until we find those people and have them arrested, Kyoko and all her friends aren't safe.

"Is everything alright?" Arian's soft voice asked as she came out from the bedroom, where she was tidying the sheets.

Just as I was debating on whether to tell her or not, she saw my scribble on a piece of paper.

"The AIDs? I thought they were all arrested...they're not targeting Kyoko, are they?!" 

"Breathe, baby." I quickly give her my arm to lean on. She's watched Kyoko grow up, there's no way she can lose her daughter.

And neither can I, of course.

"Don't worry, I'll keep her safe no matter what."

Jayden's PoV

Why does she hate me now? I couldn't help but think. Kyoko's been avoiding me for two days, it's been five days since the gun shot incident. I can't figure out what I did wrong. Is she feeling ashamed that she didn't dodge the bullet herself? 

Takumori said that's not likely, Kyoko doesn't hold grudges that immature. He seems to know something about this, though.

Worst of all, she's only avoiding me. She still talks to everybody else perfectly normally.

It agitates me to the core, just when I think we've broke the ice, and I want to start to get to know her better, this happens. 

This is just like when we first met, well not met, but she walked right out the auditorium to avoid seeing me. I get people like her warm up slowly, but I've never heard of melting and then freezing up again without any reasoning.

Making up my mind, I tried to text her. Well, she blocked me...so that doesn't work.

I got up to my feet and walked towards her. Just as she'd been doing the past two days, she started walking away.  I pick up my pace, and so does she.

This time I'm determined not to lose track of her. Soon, she led me to the court yard.

"Alright, Kyoko, why do you hate me?" I go straight to the point, she turned around when I said that. Her surprised eyes said 'you think I hate you?'.

"You were perfectly fine three days after the incident, but for the past two days you put your utmost effort into avoiding me." I elaborated. The autumn breeze flew by and blew our hair around in the wind. 

She bit her lip, "I thought that eventually, I'd find flaws I hate on you so that I can get over it."

What?

"But the more time spend, the deeper I sink. I won't be able to swim back up if I don't do this now." 

Somehow, I knew what she meant. 

"It's too much on my mind, so I decide to give it up. But it's because it's only me." She says again, she's being careful not to say it directly. 

It's distracting her, so she thought forgetting about those feelings would be best. But it's only distracting because she can't keep her emotions bottled.

Therefore, she's expecting an answer. A yes will keep her mind at peace, a no and she will forever keep her distance to thin her feelings.

I admit I've been thinking about her a lot lately, but I'm not sure if I--

"You don't have to answer right now." She says. I look up and her back is already towards me, moving to the distance.

I took back my out-stretched hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Short chapt, i know, but listen!!!

I spent like an hour or two editing Eisuke's route yesterday cuz a year ago my morals were different than they are now. So now there are zero grammar issues in his route and I made some stuff make more sense. And I added extra plotline shiz.

So if you're planning on re-reading this book sometime soon now's the time for Eisuke. I'll see if I can finish Ota's editing today or sometime.

-shamelessly self-advertises-

Yeah. 

K, bye XD

Thanks for reading~❤️

-Lily

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