Chapter 111

Len.

"I knew you guys could do it!" Miku clapped her hands together and smiled at me and Rin. We had concluded the meeting with our duet of Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder, and our performance was much, much better than last time. The reason for that was obvious but unspoken, though; Rin and I had just gone through a very turbulent week.

"I can't wait till the concert," Rin smiled, suddenly leaning towards me and giving me a quick kiss. I heard Kaito say 'awww' and Gumi clapped.

"I can wait," Miku shook her head, "We still have so much to do, you guys! Tomorrow, we're practicing at Rin's home again! Anyone who doesn't show up gets smacked with a you-know-what!"

"A leek!" Kaito laughed. Miku smacked his back playfully and we all left the room, on by one. Gumi pulled Yuma along and we followed, walking down the hall. Rin clutched my arm and rested her head on my shoulder. She was smiling, I could tell. Her happiness almost seemed to radiate from her.

"We did a pretty good job, don't you think?" She said. I nodded.

"I just hope we don't mess up during the actual concert," I said with an uneasy laugh. She looked up and kissed my cheek.

"We'll practice till we're perfect," she said with a nod, "Do you want to go see your mom, Len?"

I nodded and looked at her. We stepped out of the school and walked across the yard. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"But I do want to. Remember what you said this morning? You need me, don't you?"

I wasn't lying when I said that to her. I was being completely honest, but at the same time, I didn't want to drag her through everything. "I do, Rin. You're the only reason I'm at school right now and not lying in bed, sleepless with bloodshot eyes. Your...your presence, even, it comforts me."

"Len," she stopped walking and pulled me close. We were standing just outside the school. She pressed her nose against mine before whispering, "I need you, too. More than anything. I need your happiness, I need your smiles...that's why I'm going to go with you. I care about you."

I smirked. "I know that. You're head over heels for me."

She laughed and swatted my arm. "Kai will drive us there. I'll call him up right now."

Kaito.

I walked out of school with Miku. She kept looking up at me, and finally, I had to ask.

"What is it?" I frowned. She grimaced.

"Kaito, what's the matter?" She asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Nothing," I answered, "I guess...if it is anything, it's just that my quiz didn't go so well in Ms. Luka's class. And she gave me detention tomorrow, after school, so I won't be able to come to the meeting right after school ends."

"It's okay," she said, "I need to do something, though. You seem so sad."

"I'm not that sad!" I broke out into a grin, "See?"

"No, we need to do something...," she tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully before looking up at me with big eyes, "Kaito...do you want to build a snowman?"

"What? But there's no snow!"

"Hmm...true," she smacked a fist against her palm, "Darn it! Do you want to...come to the mall with me?"

"Sure," I shrugged, "Are we going to buy clothes or something?"

She shook her head. "I have a much better idea. Come on!"

Miku took my hand and pulled me down the street and towards the mall. She was practically running across the parking lot, holding onto my arms, like she was being offered leeks for going as fast as she could.

"Okay, here's the plan," she smiled once we were in the store, "We are going to buy ice cream supplies."

"Huh?" Since when was she crazy about ice cream? Or was she doing all this for me?

"You know, waffle cones, ice cream sauces, toppings...lots of different ice cream flavours," she waved her arms in the air as she mentioned each thing, "We'll take it all to my place and have an ice cream party, just the two of us. And I'll call Jeremy the Second to cook up something nice for dinner! We can make it romantic and it'll be so much fun!"

She was so excited and perky, looking so adorable as she jumped up and down in the middle of the store, squealing and grinning. I kissed her forehead sweetly and she froze.

"You're cute," I smiled. She blushed and took my hand. We took a shopping cart and pushed it towards the food section, browsing everything.

"Get some candy," she said. I pulled a few bags of M&M's and chewy candies off of the shelf.

"How about marshmallows?" I asked, "I mean, if you want..."

She nodded. "Why not?"

We worked our way towards the freezers and stood in front of the ice cream section. I gaped at the display: almost a hundred different varieties of the divine sweet dessert were right there, in front of me with only a glass door separating us.

"Take as many as you want," Miku grinned, knowing how much I was enjoying this, "Go ahead."

Oh, I did go ahead. First, I pulled open one freezer door and pulled out the traditional flavours: chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, a large tub of each. Then I got some of the wackier sorts. The names were enough to make my mouth water. I got tubs of ice creams called things like "Tropical Burst," "Cheeky Monkey," "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough," "Blackjack," and many others.

One by one, Miku and I put the tubs into the cart. We had to wheel the cart to the cashier together, because it was so heavy. Miku called her chauffeur and he was waiting out by the front.

"Do you want someone to help you with that?" The cashier asked.

"Yes, please!" Miku and I said at once. After all, how much was poor Jeremy supposed to carry?

Oliver.

I left school and was walking down the street when somebody suddenly grabbed me violently and pulled me into the alley. My first impulse was to scream for help. My second was to punch whoever it was in the face. I didn't end up punching them in the face or screaming, and I'm glad I didn't, because she would've punched me in response even harder.

"Shh!" Neru hissed, "What, are you just going to go home now?"

"What d'you mean, 'just' going home?" I hissed back, "The meeting's over and I have homework! A project!"

"When's it due?" Neru asked. I frowned.

"Next month," I answered quietly.

"Exactly."

"Exactly what?"

"You're coming with me, Olly," she pulled me out of the alley.

"Wait, did you just call me Olly?" I yelled, not bothering to resist her tugs.

"Yes, I did!" She said.

"That's a horrible nickname!"

"Shut up, it's cute!" She barked and suddenly fell silent for a few seconds, "I mean, someone like you is so not cute that it's painful! You need some sort of nickname, as stupid as it sounds! It'll grow on you!"

I sighed. "Where are we going?"

"To the mall!"

"Why?" I walked alongside her so that she could stop pulling me along.

"To buy a present for your lovely Haku," she flashed a sky smile, "You're going to confess to her, aren't you?"

"What? I told you, I'm not in love with her!"

"What would be a nice present?" She mused, ignoring me, "You tell me, Olly, after all, you know her best!"

I sighed. Getting something for Ms, Yowane wasn't such a bad idea. It didn't have mean that I liked her romantically, of course, though it seemed to me that Haku and me was her 'one true pairing' or whatever. It was extremely annoying and frustrating. I didn't like Ms. Yowane like that! Now, Neru, on the other hand...nope, I didn't like her, either.

"We could get her some oranges," I offered as we entered the mall. Neru stared at me like I was crazy or something.

"You want to give her fruit?" The blonde enunciated the second half of the sentence, "Fruit that she could buy from a supermarket whenever she wanted for less than five dollars?"

"H-Hey, prices are increasing!" I offered lamely. Neru just shook her head and pointed to a clothing store that...well, let's just say that it catered to 'feminine needs.'

"You are going to buy her some lacy black underwear," Neru huffed. I blushed.

"What?"

She was already pulling me towards the store. "Trust me, it's perfect! She'll know how you feel as soon as she looks in the bag!"

"Neru, you're crazy!"

"I'm doing this for your own good, Olly!" She pushed me in and I fell headfirst into a pile of panties. I think I was redder than the red underwear that hung over my face.

"I'll meet up with you in the food court in half an hour!" The blonde yelled as I pulled the clothing off of my face and tossed it aside with a scowl. The women in the store stared at me, which really didn't make anything better.

Great. Neru the idiot girl is gone and I'm in a store full of ladies' underwear...

If my mom, or even Meiko or someone, saw me there, that would be the end of everything.

Meiko.

My sister had insisted that we go shopping, even though it was a Friday and I was dead tired. She called it 'sister time' but I knew that what she really wanted was to hear me compliment every piece of clothing she tried on.

"How does this look?" We were in a store that sold dresses. Maiko had just stepped out of the changing room and was now twirling around in a small blue sundress.

"It looks great," I mumbled, "Can we eat now?"

"Don't you want to buy something?"

"I do," I answered, "I want to buy food."

Maiko sighed and rolled her eyes. "I meant, something else."

"Oh, sure, I want to buy other things," I said, "But first I want to buy food."

"Fine," Maiko sighed, "Just let me buy this dress."

So I waited for my sister as she bought the dress, arguing with the cashier that it was on sale, but no, the cashier said, the sale ended yesterday. Maiko then questioned why the sale sticker and labels were still on the dress and up around the store if the dress wasn't on sale anymore. The lady said that the other dresses were still on sale, but not that particular one.

"That's misleading," Maiko scowled. The cashier shook her head and finally called the manager. They had a long talk and my stomach growled throughout the entire thing. Finally, my stubborn sis got her dress for twenty percent off instead of forty. It was a compromise. I was just glad that it was all over.

"Finally!" I exhaled as we left the store and wove through the crowds, "Let's get to the food court now, okay?"

"Right," Maiko nodded. I put my hands in the pockets of my jeans and observes the area. There was a lot of clamouring around a lingerie store, so my gaze lingered there.

A boy with pale blond hair and a sailor hat was caught in a crowd of women. There was a pair of white panties on his head and bandages over one eye.

Oliver. What was he doing there?