CHAPTER 24

      The hairs on the back of my neck stood and prickled my skin like needles. I scrambled to my feet as swiftly as I could, raising my arms on guard. Though, it was an undeniable fact that even as he calmly did the same my heart was rapidly pounding against my ribcage in a desperate means to escape.

What in the name of flying fishes was he doing here? This was Seisein Academy! I purposely chose as far as I could from my old middle school so I wouldn't have to see this bastard for the rest of my life and yet...!

       "Ouch," Hibiki drawled, elated grin not slipping the slightest. "You're glaring at me so hard. Did you really miss me that much?"

        "Go die in a hole," I seethed.

        "Doesn't sound like an ideal way to end my life, so I don't think I will." Chuckling merrily, he leaned forward, down from his staggering height to rake me over with his eyes. Although I was wearing clothes it didn't help but make me feel vulnerable as a result. "Damn. You've become so pretty. Dyed your hair, too? Black's a nice colour on you."

        Not wanting to accept it, I gritted my teeth. "Why did you crawl back up from hell?"

        Hibiki offered me a one-shouldered shrug. "My old high school wasn't doing so great."

         "Bull."

         "I 'bull' you not," he said, raising his hands in defence. "But, I was a little worried starting a new school midway through the year. I'm just glad to have a familiar face." Seeing my growing menace, he pressed, "I'm serious! I honestly didn't expect to find you here."

        I secured my script in my hand and brushed past him. "Now that you do, make it easier for the both of us and leave."

        Hibiki seized my arm before I could make it anywhere. "Wait, wait, don't storm off."

        I roughly yanked at my arm, but his grip didn't loosen. It didn't even register to him to give up. It never did.

       "C'mon, why don't we talk a little?" he said. "We can go get some coffee or—"

        Incredulous, I sent him a dirty look. "The hell, Hibiki. We haven't seen each other in so long and you damn well know why. Take a hike."

Hibiki's expression softened, and like always he put on that apologetic frown he excelled in. His hold on my arm tightened. "I think we should talk."

I tugged for freedom. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Miyuki."

"Let go of me, Hibiki."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "If you just come with me—"

"Excuse me for intervening, but it isn't very appealing watching a guy be that desperate."

The anonymous tap on Hibiki's shoulder and voice drew our gazes towards the source. I couldn't hold back my inward relief at the sight of him, but Hibiki didn't look too pleased.

         "Desperate?" he echoed. He straightened himself to an even greater height, a smirk appearing on his face. "And are you supposed to be her hero or something?"

         Not knowing the guy well enough, the sarcasm only allowed Wannabe to smile even wider. He winked at me, grateful at the compliment, and I rolled my eyes.

         "Wannabe, I'm fine," I said.

         "Wannabe?" Hibiki repeated, stifling a laugh when he swivelled to face him. "Your parents must hate you, huh?"

         Wannabe's jaw plummeted to the floor. "Excuse you! I'll have you know I have a proper name!"

          "You don't have to be in denial, man," Hibiki said. "I'm not judging too harshly don't worry. I once met a guy named Bingo and both Miyuki and I know what happened to the poor dude!"

         Hibiki jostled my shoulder as he laughed at the memory. Sensing my hostility, it soon reverted into a cough.

         Wannabe stepped in between us with a frown.

         "I don't know who you are, but Hoshino and I have completed our club quota for the day and would like to go home."

         "Miyuki? In a club?" Hibiki sniggered, resting his arm on my shoulder. He met my eyes. "You got out of your shell?"

         "Hey!" Wannabe interjected.

        Hibiki didn't retreat his arm. A smirk quirked up his lips when he brought his face side by side to mine. "You asked who I was, right?" Wannabe stood still as Hibiki wrung my neck even tighter. "I'm Miyuki's ex."

         Wannabe's reaction was nearly comical, how speechless and jaw-dropped he'd become.

         I grabbed his arm and folded it, holding it to his back. "Don't touch me again."

         Hibiki winced with a smile. "I missed your feistiness."

         I glared, hard. Regardless, Tamaki #2 was still a bumbling mess.

         "Ex? A-as in, boyfriend? No! Not my Hoshino!"

         "Yours?" Hibiki turned to me in disbelief. "You moved on from me so easily?"

         I glowered at the both of them. "Like hell you were my boyfriend! And like hell he'll ever be!"

         Hibiki laughed at my anger, and Wannabe reverted back to his wide-eyed blinking state.

         "Ex-boyfriend, ex-best friend, po-tay-to pot-ah-to," Hibiki said, nudging me. "Am I right?"

         I seized his arm once again. "If you test me one more time I will seriously rip out your skull and beat you to death with it."

         Wannabe inched back a far distance but Hibiki only continued to chuckle, ruffling my hair with his free hand.

         "Aww, you still make the cutest death threats," he cooed. "Say, are you still into that anime stuff Kiyo was in?"

         My veins flared with fury. "Don't bring up Kiyo."

         Despite radiating a means of nonchalance, Hibiki liberated me with a frown. "Miyuki, you know I didn't mean for that to happen."

         "And yet it did," I said, brushing him aside and rushing down the hall. "So stay out of my life."

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         The atmosphere was thick with tension. And despite Yuji's many attempts of slicing through the air with a pretend knife, that didn't change.

         Yesterday's occurrence was one thing but the fact that as soon as this morning rolled around and the students had succumbed to that idiot's charm—girls giggling and bombarding him, boys pressing him about his old school... Nothing had changed from back then. And that bastard just absorbed the attention like a mop, without an inch of regret at all.

         "So," Hiro coughed, "Have you guys seen the new transfer student?"

        "Oh, the one new to the first years?" Chinami giddily said. "He's such a looker and has the charm! It's only been his first day and he's so popular already!"

        I scoffed, flipping over to the next page of my script. All eyes darted to me, and I swear it'd become so silent as to hear a pen drop.

         "Yeah... There's so many rumours going around about him," said another male in the Drama Club. "But after seeing him in person I'm saying the only thing that's true is that he's a playboy."

         "An asshole, too," I said. "You don't want to concern yourself with him, trust me."

        More silence ensued as I stared at my lines.

        Gritting my teeth, I mussed my hair and hauled myself up to my feet. "Look, we had enough time to practice our lines. Can we just get started already?"

        The entire room, unrelated to the genuinely perplexed Drama Club, avoided my eyes and remained silent. Even Hinata and Kouichi were at wit's end. Exasperation crawled up my spine as I glared at the one I knew was responsible: Wannabe.

         He was the one the most guilty, beads of sweat trickling down his forehead. Under my scowl he only stiffened further.

        He obviously told them all what happened. Dammit.

        Chinami broke through the puzzling tension with a nervous laugh. "Why don't we take it from the top?"

        As they all rose to their feet, Yuji continued to slice the air with his hand and retreated with a grimace. Hiro swatted his arm. He shot him a warning look to which Yuji held up his arms. With a happy-go-lucky smile, he bobbed his head.

         "Yes, yes. Would you please care to start from the beginning, Miyuki?"

         All curious bug-eyes fixated themselves on me, causing me to feign a smile like his. "How about we drop it?"

         Yuji pretended to sigh. Chinami on the other hand had seemed to understand an entirely different thing.

         "I guess since we don't have the Prince yet we can just jump right into the whole dwarfs practice."

         "Why look for a prince when you have one right here?"

       My head whipped towards the doorway fast enough to nearly sever my head from my neck. My jaw fell ten inches to the ground. Nonetheless, the guy leaning against the doorframe locked eyes with me and winked.

        Chinami rushed towards him with widened eyes. "You're that transfer student!"

         He turned his eyes down with that ingratiating smile on his face, scooping up her hand in his. Bringing it upwards, he introduced, "Kenzou Hibiki. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

         Though Wannabe's charm had done absolutely nothing to this upperclassman of mine, Hibiki had gotten to her. She'd shifted ten shades redder in the face, a grinning mess.

         "U-um, Chikaki... Minachi... H-Himiri..." She was a stammering fool. "I mean, Chimani. Me name is Chimani."

        "President, you're not even speaking coherently!" her club mates interjected.

         Hibiki chortled, but he didn't remove his gaze from her. "I already heard so much about you, Chinami-senpai. And learning of your many accomplishments in the theatre world, I was dying to meet you."

          "M-me?" Chinami gasped. "You wanted to meet Chimani?"

          "Chinami!" corrected the Drama Club.

          "Wow," Yuji drawled out as this chaos was befalling, "this guy wooed her better than Kazu ever could."

          "No!" Wannabe protested, sending Hibiki a sour look. "I hadn't even thought to try. If I'd been serious—"

         "As you evidently were. Which is clearly why you even failed to receive a human role," Hiro commented.

         It wasn't the right decision to point out because Wannabe immediately slunk away into his corner. He pouted to himself. "Woof... woof..."

         Hinata weakly smiled. "Guys, don't tease him too much."

         "He does have a handsome face," Saki gushed. "And piercings? He's definitely a badass!"

         "I wonder why he's here," Hinata said, blinking slowly.

Kouichi adjusted his glasses on a higher position on his nose. "If it's because he wants to snatch the role of being Hoshino-san's prince... I won't allow it."

"We're all her princes," Yuji pointed out with a smile. "Just not her true one."

         I was subconsciously clenching the script in my hands, but their words were only making matters worse. As Chinami was succumbing to a mere pile of goo, I went to intervene.

         I tapped his arm as kindly as I could but Hibiki didn't remove his gaze. His slow chatter was working wonders on a giggling Chinami. Frustrated, I prodded his arm once more. This time, he nudged me aside angling his body away from me without separating his gaze from Chinami.

         Not taking that anymore, I yanked him down by the arm and flashed Chinami a frown. "I'm borrowing him."

         I practically booted his yelping self into the corner of the room, glowering as I not-so-gently let go of his ear.

         "Miyuki, why are you being so rough with me?" he whined, lips caving downwards. His eyes gained a twinkle. "That look in your eye—don't tell me you're jealous?"

         "To hell with that," I spat. "Why are you here?"

          Hibiki smirked as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "To marvel in the art of theatre, of course. You already know how much I love this stuff; the real question is what is someone like you doing here."

          "Leave," I growled.

         "And what fun would that be?" Hibiki's smirk broadened. "Loosen up, Snow White. Your Prince Charming has arrived."

          "You little—"

         "Chinami-senpai," Hibiki proclaimed, stepping past me. "I'm sure you already can tell, but the play you're putting on: 'Snow White and the Seven Princes'... I'm here to audition for the main Prince."

          "No," I hissed.

         "Huh, why?" Saki demanded. "He has such a handsome face. And he is the eye candy at Seisein right now."

         Hibiki extended out his hand and grinned at Saki. "She knows what she's talking about."

         "No," I asserted, giving him a scowl (to which this infuriating male simply winked right back).

         "What do you say, Chinami-senpai?" Hibiki asked anyway, giving her a lopsided smile.

         I didn't expect an answer any less from a starry-eyed Chinami. "Of course you can have the role, Hibiki-kun! You'd make a fine prince!"

         And with that, that bastard turned to me with that smug smirk of his before preforming a bow in front of the rest of them.

         "You will not be disappointed."

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         "What do you still need from me? You got your damn role, right?"

         Hibiki and I were side-by-side when I'd left the academy gates, my fast strides not making a difference to his nonchalant ones.

         "I want you to accept me as your prince."

         "You're hilarious."

         "I know I am, but..." As Hibiki trailed off, he frowned. "Why do you say so? I'll do you so much justice—more than any other guy could!"

         Was that why he did this? I pushed him in the opposite direction from me. "Just get away. Stop following me."

         Hibiki's expression fell as he moved his face away from my fist. "You're so cold..."

         I grounded my teeth and settled for picking up my pace. He easily caught up with his casual steps.

         "So you're a club junkie now?" he said. "The Humanity Club was it?"

         I jutted my chin, my eyes glazing over the passing stores and citizens.

         "Ignoring me?" Hibiki released a sigh, but that still didn't wipe him clear of his lazy smile. Posture slouched, he leisurely ambled down the pavement. "You'd think because we're childhood friends that'd allow a little leeway."

          I slipped out my cell and began tapping at the screen. Without warning, he grabbed it, forcing me to come to a stop and my eyes to meet his.

          "Miyuki," he said, neck bobbing as if in desperation, "listen."

          "How about you leave me alone?"

         He didn't take that to heart and persisted with another exhale. "I can't understand why you hate me so much."

         I blew a raspberry. "Why am I not surprised?"

         He gritted his teeth. I coughed, not surprised to find he was speechless.

"We were little kids alright?"

         I dodged his eyes, stifling a scoff.

        "Seventh graders," he pressed on. His honey eyes reflected his exasperation. "You can't hold a grudge against me forever."

        "Want to test it out?" I asked.

Hibiki's hold on my wrist wasn't declining, in fact the more contorted his face became with guilt the tighter it became.

       "You were just an asshole who cared more about absorbing all the attention and popularity you could rather than treasuring our friendship," I said for him. "That's all there is to it."

        "No it isn't," Hibiki asserted. "It was nice getting my ego inflated, sure," he said. "But amongst my entire life, I've only ever cared about—"

        He stopped himself before he could finish the 'you.' He slipped his fingers from my sleeve, gaze downcast. He didn't say anything for a while, but from how heavy my heart was feeling in my chest I didn't blame him.

        "I was an idiot then, alright?"

        "I don't see any improvement now," I replied.

        Hibiki bit his lower lip, a habit I could see he still hadn't discarded from when we were kids. "We were in middle school. My guy friends constantly teased me, and I know people must've teased you for hanging around a boy, too. I know I ridiculed you for no good reason and didn't stand by your side when others teased you, too."

        "And?" I said.

        Hibiki pressed his lips together, but gave in, "I even insulted your... waifus and husbandos..."

         I watched as he dropped his head, soaked in guilt. Nothing about Hibiki's gaze or words seemed false. No cocky smirk or attitude; just regret. I knew for certain I couldn't shrug everything that happened aside, but he was right about one thing: it was a childish squabble.

         "Middle school was a terrible experience because of you."

        Hibiki's bottom lip caught between his teeth again. "I know. I'm sorry."

        I chewed on the inside of my cheek. "Why did you come to Seisein?"

        "I really didn't know you were going to be here, honest," he said. "And I moved to the other side of the city so switching schools was easier."

         I cocked an eyebrow, glancing in the direction we'd come from. "Then why are you going in this direction?"

         "Sorry," Hibiki said, cracking a smile. "I just really wanted to talk."

          "And?" I said. "What exactly changed because of this?"

           He flicked me smack dab on my forehead. My jaw fell to the floor and I recoiled in disbelief.

           "Why—"

          "Look, like I said, I didn't come to Seisein to start anything with you. Nor did I come with the intentions to make things more complicated than in the past. If you can forgive me, believe me, I'd be more thankful beyond words. And if you can't, I want to make it up to you."

          I was past puzzled. "Are you even hearing yourself?"

          "Loud and clear!"

         I flinched at his yell, causing Hibiki to break out into a laugh.

         "I didn't want to hurt you, but I ended up doing so," he said. "Which is exactly why I want to change that. My friends were seriously crummy, and I regret ever believing their opinions mattered. I sincerely don't want to hurt you anymore, so let me help you out with the Drama Club. With no hard feelings."

         His words didn't seem to be a lie, but even still it wrung my gut the wrong way.

         He extended out his hand to me. "Please?" he added, his lopsided grin not fading in the least.

        I stared at his hand and his familiar, honest-to-goodness face; tousled black hair and the piercings on his left ear. Knowing that even if I left, his position wouldn't budge, I sighed in defeat.

         "Only because that club's desperate."

        He beamed as I held out my hand to his. Just as they connected, he brought my fingers upwards the same time he bent forward, softly pressing his lips to the back of my hand.

         My heart jumped in my chest erratically. He merely retreated with another heart-stopping smile and bow.

          "My heart is ever at your service, Princess Miyuki."

          My lips quivered and I roughly drew my hand away. Seeming to understand my speechlessness, he merely chuckled; sonorous and energetic as always. Heat couldn't help but creep onto my cheeks as a result.

          Maybe agreeing to this whole thing really wasn't the best idea...

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I know I haven't updated for a while (please forgive me), but thank you so much for 10k reads! It's still hard to wrap my head around lol. You guys are awesome :) Do tell me your thoughts on the chapter!

Oh, and happy new year! I hope 2018 will be a good year for us all!

-Misty