She stares into his eyes. " Why...? "

Out of her thought, her voice is shaking with shock and joy.

This question surprises Subaru. He knows, it is the perfect timing for him to tell her that... He should not give up this opportunity.

After having a deep breath, he starts speaking up.

" I ... "

He cannot help but stutters nervously. Even he tries to calm down himself, his face is accumulated with great heat. It is obviously for her to notice him blushing.

" Because I ... I ... "

Yume is getting nervous. When she thinks what is he going to say, she immediately thinks of three words.

Is he going to tell me that three words... ?

She swallows her saliva nervously when gripping her dress tightly.

" Yume... I love... "

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ako's P.O.V.

After the short discussion with my friends and my Subaru kyun, they all thought that Yume had some problems and she decided to solve them by her own. Then, Subaru kyun seemed to realize something important, and he rushed away.

We also want to help, so we all separate to find Yume. However, I cannot find her, after a while, we decide to gather again near the school entrance to share our discoveries.

When I am on my way to there, I hear some sounds nearby. I follow the sounds, and soon I come to the school entrance, and discover Yume standing there.

I am delighted to find Yume until I notice that Subaru is there with her too. Feeling prickles on my heart, I immediately hide behind a tree and watch them secretly.

When hearing that Subaru is willing to sacrifice his life in order to protect Yume, I feel that my heart is tearing into two pieces. From his eyes and expression, I can truly know, all his words are from the bottom of his true heart. He really loves Yume so much...

He never likes me... Frankly saying, he never pays any attentions on me...

At the same time, from the reactions of Yume, I can realize, she loves him too. They are sharing mutual love.

She shatters my already fragile heart again ruthlessly since ... I have already seen her as my best friend...

I stumble and collapse on the ground when I feel that my legs are getting senseless. I can barely prop myself up into a sitting position when I am in such a broken stage.

It is amazing. Although my heart is full of pain and grief, no tears come out from my eyes. Maybe this is absolute sorrow...

In their love and sweet relationship, I seem to be an extra person. In their eyes, I should not exist... No!... They never see me as an existed person...

If not, how can they fall into love without considering my feelings?????!!!!!

I can't feel anything except sorrow, agony and rage in my heart. Great pain ripples my body endlessly to torture me. Love is slowly replaced by hate.

Watching them smile obscenely, I tighten my fists gripping the hem on my dress.

I swear here, I will get my Subaru kyun back one day, and take vengeance on Yume, that unscrupulous betrayer.

The first thing for me to do is...

Subaru holds Yume's hands tightly, really tightly, making me frown in distaste.

" Yume... I want to tell you... I love... "

I suddenly lunge towards Yume and separate her from Subaru kyun. I wrap my arms around her body. They both flinch in surprises.

"Yume chan~ I finally find you out! You really scared me. If you don't come back to us, we will hate you forever~ Do you know, you are our best friend! "

I bury my face into her shoulder. Obscuring my face, I stick out my tongue with revulsion. What? Best friend? How disgusting these words are...

I feel that she hugs me back. When her hands touch my back, I shiver slightly due to discomfort.

"Sorry, Ako chan. I make you worried. I won't leave again. I promise. "

My lips curl into a small smile when hearing her words. I will worry about you? You think too much. I just want to...

I just want to thwart Subaru from confessing to you... That's my real purpose...

I hear cheers behind me. I turn around, and see the others rush to us. Laura and Mahiru embrace us at once after they come to our front. We soon separate after the group hug.

From the corner of my eyes, I can notice Subaru sighing with disappointment. I grind my teeth with anger without anyone notice, maybe...

Soon, Subaru decides to send Yume back to her room. The others also leave in relief, leaving me and Kanata.

When I am ready to leave too, someone clutches my arm. I turn around and meet Kanata's eyes directly. His face looks very serious. From his eyes, I can discover fury...

Fury...?

"Why don't you try to give up on the crush on Subaru? " His plain words include a very strong emotion inside, which surprises me.

" Huh? " A small gentle smile never leaves my face.

" You purposely stopped Subaru from confessing to Yume, right? "

I freeze when hearing this. My smile fades. He... he was here too at that time...?

He sees my expression and understands, I cannot deny it. This is truth.

" So what? Now is Nijino Yume falls in love with my crush when she knows my feelings towards him! She betrayed our friendship first! Why I could not take revenge on her? " I retort without any hesitation.

" But you should already know that this would happen one day, from the day Subaru brought her into this school, right? " He clips when staring still at my eyes.

I open my mouth, trying to retort again, but... but... I cannot think of anything to retort...

Yeah... I indeed already knew it... from that day... but... I never admitted... I never let myself out of the comfort zone that built by myself to face the reality directly. I was just lying to myself to prevent from being hurt...

No! No! No!

I shake my head with my hands pressing on both sides when gritting, " No! This is not truth! This is not truth! "

I look down at the ground with my eyes shut, slowly feeling warmth embracing my eyes, overflowing.

I can hear a long sigh from my own weeping sound.

" I tell you, giving up is the best way to face it. Don't struggle more if you don't want more wounds on your heart. "

He starts walking away. " Don't attempt to stop Subaru and Yume from getting together. This is a warning. " He looks at me for the last time before disappearing into the darkness.

No... This is not real... It is Yume... She stole my Subaru kyun... She took away the chance that he will fall in love with me one day...

I slowly kneel down on the ground when covering my face to hide my sob...

When I wake up the next morning, I can see my eyes swollen from the mirror. The tears traces are still remained on my pale cheek. Slowly touching them, everything which happened yesterday night flows back to my mind. I feel warmth inside my eyelids and nose again. I sniff heavily to prevent tears from dropping again.

I have already forgotten how I got back to my room yesterday night. I just remembered, I cried for so long when lying on the ground near the school entrance.

After washing my face, I look at myself from the mirror. What surprises me, the image on the mirror does not like me. Maybe I should specify, the "Ako" in the mirror does not like the one I knew for so long...

Her eyes are filled with hate and detestation, lacking of the usual joy and hope...

I choose to ignore it since I am going to have a shooting of drama with Subaru kyun... Yeah... I am the female main character when he is the male one. And the most important part is, we are lover in this drama...

This new drama is named as " Little Mermaid ". Subaru kyun is the human prince while I am the princess mermaid. By the way, Yume and Kanata are also involved. That betrayer Yume is the fairy who helps me to become human when Kanata is the guardian of the prince. Everyone sure know the story plots, right? Therefore, I will skip the explanation time.

After packing everything, I leave the room and go to the venue.

Okay... I have already decided my second plan...

Once I reach there, I immediately discover Subaru and Yume sitting together and chatting casually. I hiss with distaste and walk towards to the director.

Don't get angry and destroy your perfect plan, Ako... Clam down... You have even more time for torturing her...

Later, the shooting has started. The first scene is the meeting of prince and princess. That means me and Subaru.

Yume and Kanata sit aside and watch us. After changing into a very sexy bikini top and a mermaid tail, I lay on the white beach with my eyes closed. Soon, I hear footsteps. My lips slowly curl. I know, it is him...

Soon, pair of warm arms from someone picks me up into a warm cuddle. According to the script, Prince Subaru will hug me in princess carrying.

It is really warm when his hands touch my bare skin...

I secretly squeeze open my eyes and look at Yume's direction. I smile in satisfactory when I notice her unpleased expression. She is getting jealous...

Then, it is the scene for me to tell Subaru my past. Once the director shouts "Action", I start gazing at Subaru and speak my lines.

Wait! There is something wrong! When I look at his ocean blue eyes, I slowly feel the warmth on my cheeks. I realize, my face is getting redder and redder. I am showing my affection to him!!!

Oh no! I cannot even speak a complete line! All the lines in my memory all disappear. My mind goes blanked!!!

Who can I blame? I can't blame Subaru since he is too charming~~~

After several takes, I still cannot perform my best. The director is so angry and he decides to end the shooting today. Before leave, he asks me to evaluate myself. This makes me down...

I quickly sneak into my changing room and sob.

Subaru kyun must think that I am so stupid and weak...

Suddenly, I hear light footsteps outside and stop in front of my room. Then, I hear a knock on the door.

" Ako chan! Are you okay? "

From the voice, I know, she is Yume chan...

Why does she come? She wants to see me cry because of failure? Yeah... It must be because of this...

I wipe away my tear quickly. I cannot show her my weakness. She is my rival...

I go to the door and open it, meeting her eyes which are filled with worries...

Worries?

" Ako chan, I know you must get depressed, but I want to bring you somewhere first! "

After she finished her sentence, she grasps my hand and pulls me along her side.

What is she going to do? Does she want to tease me in the public?

Soon, we come to the exit and meet two people, what surprises me, they are Subaru and Kanata.

Wait! Subaru kyun...?

I immediately hide behind Yume and peek at the outside. I am still being shame on the scene...

" Ako... " Yume turns around to face me, " We are going to help you to face your problems. "

A gentle smile flashes along her face.

Help...?

No! Don't believe her! Don't trust her because of her smile! Remember! She has betrayed you before!

However...

I still want to know what she has prepared for me...

Therefore, I follow them to the avenue. Yume arranges me to pair with Subaru. We go shopping together in the avenue and taking a boat trip on a lake when she and Kanata watch us from doing romantic stuffs.

From different moments and situations, I can notice the jealousy from her face and reactions.

She feels jealous... Since she feels in that way, so why she still arranges me to be with him?

Why...?

Maybe... she sees me as her true best friend in her life...? Maybe... She still considers my feelings so she never expresses her real feelings to him? So she even wants to leave order to give me a chance to approach him...?

Everything in my mind suddenly go clear. 

I admit, I did not see everything clearly. I did not face the reality that has already shown in front of me. I should already understand, Subaru has never ever belonged to me... Never...

When Yume treats me so well, how can I hate her? How can I hurt her ruthlessly? How can I not see her as my friend, my best best friend? 

But ... I have put so many years on him... How can I give up so easily... when I never tell him my feelings?

I realize, my heart starts melting. A question exists in my mind suddenly, which one, is Yume or Subaru, more important to me...?

I am so confused. Yume is my friend... And Subaru is my crush...

If I have to choose between them, that means, I have to choose between friendships and love...

These two things are both important to me... How can I choose?

I use an excuse to leave from the group for a while in order to have a deep thought. Suddenly, a familiar voice echoes near my ears.

" If you want to make a decision, you can try to confess to Subaru. "

I turn around, as my expectation, he is Kanata.

I don't know why, a graceful smile is shown on my face, especially is towards him. However, I know, what he says, is really a good suggestion...

Okay! I should take a step to make an important decision between friendships and love.

I go back to them and pull Subaru aside. Then, we come to a park, an empty park.

" What do you want, Ako san? " He asks in confused.

After having a large inhalation, I start speaking out the words that have buried in my heart for so many years.

" Subaru kyun, I like you for so many years! "

A painful silence occupies the air between them until...

" Sorry. I ... "

" Please don't speak out! "

I yell with a loud voice, which startles him.

" But... "

" I know what you are going to say... "

" Sorry... "

Prickles appear on my heart again. Tears start forming around my eyes, but I try my best to stop them from flowing since I know, I still has an important mission...

" Do you love Yume? "

He is obviously startled by my questions. His face turns into a bright red color within a short period of time.

" That means yes, right? "

His face grows redder.

I never see this cute side of him. However, he is not doing this for me...

" Go! "

" Huh? "

" Yume is a good girl. You should better confess to her before she is stolen by the other boys. "

" But... "

" No but! Go! Go find her! "

At first, he is shocked by this sudden request, but soon, he nods before running away to find her.

Tears finally burst out from my eyes. I cannot control my tears and sorrow anymore. I let myself cry loudly until a warm hand lands on my head. I look up with my blurry eyes.

" Kanata...? "

" Just cry everything out... Kitty... "

He pulls me into a warm embrace... It is really, really warm...

Warmth ripples my body soothingly.

I realize, it is some kind of familiar... 

Ah...

I finally remember, how could I get back to my room last night...

With this tight cuddle, I finally let all my tears run out from my eyes. This is the first time for me to be protected by someone... Without my notice, the sorrow inside my heart is started disappearing...