The drive to her home was fast and quiet. By now, Kou's help knew not to bug her when she was in a furious state. Her driver learned it the hard way and kept his mouth shut. Well but apparently not every servant in her house had managed to absorb that one, simple rule.

"Good evening, Kou-sama!" The middle-aged maid, greeted Kou as she stormed into the atrium, Komagi's black sweater following behind her, gathering all the dirt from the floor. "How was your day, miss?"

She glared at the woman, who cringed slightly and threw the sweater at her.

"I'll be in my room. I don't want to be disturbed," the girl informed and paced on the stairs, leaving a nonplussed maid behind her.

Kou could sense the woman's distress; she didn't know what was she supposed to do with the uniform, but she also didn't feel like asking her either. She could clearly see a name on the sweater's emblem, and she didn't want to mess with neither Hanamiya nor Kou. Finally, a quiet voice rang in her ears.

"Kou-sama, what should I do with it?" She stammered.

Kou twisted her neck to look at her.

"Throw it to a kennel. At least dogs will benefit from this old rug," she informed and went upstairs for a long bath.

When Miho came to her bedroom, tightly covered with a towel, she spotted a black square of material laying on her desk. The sweater had been washed and neatly folded, ready to be returned.

She sighed; Hanamiya was still scarier than she even if it was Kou, who the maid was accountable to.

♕♚♕♚

It had been over a week now since Hanamiya had trodden on her corns. Kou hadn't received any sign he acknowledged her existence anymore. No text involving orders to get rid of members of the teaching staff, no complaints about his fans, hell, it looked like Hanamiya even avoided her during the classes. She hadn't seen him for 8 days now, and she had to admit it felt odd without his constant companionship. Kou didn't have friends, she kept acquaintances. The idiocy of an average student made her short-tempered, and she valued her mental health.

Hanamiya had always had his goons following him around, and of course, there was she... The club activities kept her occupied but when she was done with the archery practice, to her displeasure, she'd found herself longing for the company of the idiots from the basketball team.

Hanamiya and Kou never fought. Numerous times had she become mad at him, but he has always seemed to know what to do or say for her to loosen up a little. It'd been the first time, when Hanamiya had openly offended her, treating her like a piece of trash... Truth to be told, she didn't really know how to approach the subject. Kou didn't need his apologies; they were worthless since he had never meant them. However, she wanted to see him and find out how would he act. Maybe then she'd be able to forget about that shit and simply move on, and to do this, firstly, she had to find Hanamiya. It had proved itself a hard task since she couldn't find him anywhere in the school building. Miho was the angry one here, but it was Makoto who decided to vanish without a word of explanation.

Even when she went to the library, the Komagi's sweater hanging from her arm ready to be shoved in Hanamiya's face, he wasn't there. It all had effectively gotten on her nerves. A small, vicious voice in her head whispered that maybe Hanamiya had requested a transfer to Rakuzan, and was currently plotting how to destroy all of her and those retards of her team with Akashi. It really sounded ridiculous when she thought about it. Hanamiya wasn't that twisted... was he?

After school was over, instead of going home, Kou told her driver Hanamiya's address. During the ride, her imagination went wild, making her want to pull on Hanamiya's wisps until he had become bold. So much for keeping her pride...

She told her driver to wait for her in a parking lot, a few blocks away from Hanamiya's apartment. Miho took a deep breath, looking at the tall building, inwardly preparing some mean words if this meeting didn't work out in her favour. Those kinds of thoughts were following her right to her destination point, yet none of the speeches she'd come up with seemed to be accurate. It was all useless.

Kou sighed and knocked on the door. Hanamiya didn't rush to let her in immediately, so while she waited, she took the goddamn sweater from her bag in case she only had time to return it, and after that, had to run for her life. The girl growled as she checked the time on her phone. It was Kou's department to be sluggish, making everyone wait for her, not Hanamiya.

She banged her fist against the door, this time being extremely loud. For a second Kou thought about calling him in some obnoxious manner, but if she did, the neighbours would probably call the police, so she dismissed that thought and kept banging against the doors.

Finally, after a few minutes, she heard footsteps and soon after the doors clicked open, revealing a man Kou had only seen twice in her life. However, the way Hanamiya's father looked at this very moment, varied from the image she had in her mind; his elegant suit was wrinkled, the skin on his face was bluish, his light hair was tousled, and not neatly combed as she remembered. Her eyes scanned the man's figure, her brain kind of switching off. From what she knew, Hanamiya has been leaving alone for the past four years. What was his father doing here?

"Good morning, Hanamiya-sama." Kou lowered her chin courtly. "I came to see Makoto-kun and to return the uniform he has kindly lend to me. Is he home?"

Hanamiya's father looked at the girl, but it seemed as if he didn't see her. His dark eyes, practically the same as his son's, gazed over her. It felt strange, almost alarming...

"I'm afraid it would be impossible, Kou-chan," he informed quietly.

The tone of his voice dropped an ice brick on Miho's stomach. She blinked rapidly, the whirls of her brain turning furiously.

"What do you mean, Hanamiya-sama?" She piped, clenching her fist over the fabric of the sweater she was holding.

The older man kept looking over her shoulder, it was as if she wasn't there. None of this was right. Why was he even there?

She wanted to shout all those questions at him but suddenly Kou noticed a small figure emerging from behind the man's back. Long ashen-black hair, greenish pale skin, shining, puffy eyes. Hanamiya's mother was snivelling quietly, holding on to her husband's arm. Kou's eyes widened, darting from between the couple's faces. She felt her heart cease painfully. The words that came from her mouth weren't hers. That wasn't her voice.

Quite and groggy.

"What's wrong? Why are you here... ? Where is Makoto?"

At the mention of her son's name, missis Hanamiya gave a louder sob. She glared at the man before her, demanding the answers.

"Where. Is. He." She hissed.

"I'm so sorry, Kou-chan."

The girl shook her head, feeling tears stinging her 10

"... I'm so sorry, Kou-chan."

Miho shook her head, feeling tears stinging her eyes.

"Why are you sorry? Everything is fine. Where is Hanamiya—? I just need to... This... What's going on?"

Mister Hanamiya stepped back, making a way for her.

"Please come in, Kou-chan. We need to talk."

She stiffly followed the couple into a living room and sat on a couch on the opposite side of them. All of the factors, Hanamiya's parents' behaviour, their attire, just a lone fact that they had troubled themselves to visit Makoto were a very bad sign. What could have possibly happened to her friend, since the adults before her were on the edge. He didn't...?

The nervousness made Kou sweat, while she was rooted in her seat only her fingers moving, as she creased the old Komagi sweater.

Mister Hanamiya inhaled deeply, running his fingers through his already dissolved hair. He had no idea how should he approach the subject and since his wife was in her own world, sobbing quietly in the corner of the couch, he was left alone to deal with the girl.

"Would you mind not doing that, sir?" Kou asked as the man began to pull on his cuffs. He immediately looked up at her; she gulped. Those dark eyes made him look much like Makoto. „I-I'm s-sorry but it's disturbing to see you like that...

"My apologies. That was not my intention," the man said, lacing his fingers over his lap. Though he and his son may have shared some similarities, their character was probably not among them. "I'm just quite shocked to see you here. Wish I could say, I've heard a lot about you but I would lie. Makoto... he has always been very secretive. All I know about you is from what I read in the newspapers, and that is probably not even close to the truth."

Kou only nodded because if she was to reply, she might have regretted every word that left her mouth. Makoto wasn't the most easy-going person but still, his parents could at least show some sort of attention towards their only child. After all, he was not that— was. Past tense. Miho's stomach twisted and she pursed her lips not to gag.

"I apologise for my straightforwardness but please spare me the small talk and explain what's going on because my imagination starts to get the worst of me."

If mister Hanamiya was offended by her blatant remark, he didn't show it. Kou only hoped he wouldn't start apologising to her again. That was enough for today and since her head had started pounding from the stress, her patience was already in its shortage. She turned her face to the sniffling woman on the opposite side of the couch, completely losing the hope to get anything out of her.

"The newspapers were indeed very wrong..." Mister Hanamiya mused. "When I first heard about you, I wondered what a sweet girl like you could possibly be doing at my son's side. It was particularly strange since you've been with that brat for such a long time."

Kou blinked at the man, completely in the dark as to where was he getting on with that. The sudden change in his attitude made her eyebrows rise.

Hanamiya's father sighed before continuing, this time his tone slightly softer: "Every parent knows their child, Kou-chan. I may look like I don't give a damn about Makoto but it's quite the opposite." Miho bugged her eyes out, finally realising the direction of this speech. She wasn't looking forward to hearing the rest of it. "I'm perfectly aware of my son's... what would be the right word... extracurricular activities, and about your involvement in them."

The man's mean look made Kou quizzical and even if she wanted nothing more than to meet his gaze with her head held high, her eyes were stubbornly plastered to the sweater. Kou's mouth went agape; no adult had ever confronted her about her little... hobby, and now when Makoto... the least to say, the forthcoming lecture was giving Kou shivers of panic.

"I-I don't kno-know what you're talking about, sir," she stammered, finally finding the strength to look the man in the eye; only her voice hadn't adjusted to her needs, giving away how nervous she actually was. "I'm sorry but Makoto's only extracurricular activity I can think of is the basketball club and I'm not even its official member."

Technically, she was telling the truth but said white lie wasn't enough convincing for mister Hanamiya, whose eyelid didn't as much as twitch at her answer.

"Learn to keep your voice even, when speaking about stuff even you are not convinced about, child, " he said stiffly. "I've been turning a blind eye on those games of Makoto since you have always managed to clean up the mess the two of you have caused. Don't act dumb because I can number all your achievements and there's a lot to talk about."

If she wasn't already sitting, Kou would probably end up on the floor. Did he just accuse her of having a bad influence on... on Hanamiya, for good sakes?! And as if reading her mind, the man seemed as if anticipating the question. Or more likely he had just cut her off of her guard and all her emotions had been written all over her face.

"Fret not, Kou-chan. I'm not going to blame you for the way Makoto is." He leaned back on the couch, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Honest to god, I've already lost hope to find someone to blame for my son's character..."

"He's a very bright boy, Yutaka, don't you forget about that." A voice that until now was only present in a form of a muffled cry, echoed in Kou's ears.

Mister Hanamiya rolled his eyes at his wife.

"That is about to be confirmed," he stated tartly and turned to Kou. "Even though I'm mildly impressed with your stunts, this time Makoto and you went too far. Neither do I know, nor care what did the two of you do to cause such mayhem but I won't keep quiet about it any longer. You have no obligation to do as I say but I'm going to say it anyway."

He paused as if assessing whether she was listening to him. Kou had begun to fidget again, the sweater in her hands already missing a couple of its threads; she nodded.

"I have no idea how is it to have a brain like yours. It can't be that pleasant since regular life cease to be appealing anymore and you need to play games, using real people as the pawns. But life is not a game and if you play rough, expect that one day someone will return the favour with twice as much strength."

"Is that the case, sir?" Kou asked, thinking she had started to get the idea of what might have happened. "Did someone threaten Makoto?"

Upon the mention of her friend's name, his mother yet again burst into tears. The woman had seriously started to wear on Kou's nerves... maybe Makoto was adopted?

But as she looked at her ashen-black hair and extremely pale skin, she had dismissed that idea since before her sat the female version of her friend with some clear signs of a bipolar disorder.

"No, no one threatened him," mister Hanamiya informed, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "They didn't even bother with a warning."