“What?” Teru thought she didn’t hear him right. Surely he couldn’t have just asked to stay here. That would be weird, seeing as he was thinking of leaving the school, only a couple of weeks ago.

“I said, I think I might want to stay here.” That was exactly what Kouji said though, and he was being completely serious. While it might’ve sounded crazy, he wasn’t certain if he should just leave after what’s happened. “I’ve never had a great relationship with my uncle. I don’t know if I just want to leave it like this, we’ve missed out on so much time together.”

“I can’t believe this.” Her ears really weren’t deceiving her. He was strongly considering it. Teru’s breaths got short, as her heart got racing. Was all that hard work for naught? Trying to get him to stay in the first place was hard enough, but at least the other girls were doing stuff too.

“But I just wanted your opinion on it.” He nervously laughed. “You probably think it’s a silly idea, but I almost want to do it.”

“But what about that girl you were interested in?” Her tone turned very harsh at with her question. “Don’t act like I didn’t remember what you said.” The way she was acting, it caught him off guard a bit. At the start of the trip, she was pretty nice, but turned cold recently. However, the way she was talking sounded like a quiet fury.

“Right...” He didn’t figure on why she’d sound so mad about that. Kouji didn’t even say the name of the girl, so there’s no reason to feel that strongly. Not from what he assumed was Teru’s feelings. “But it’s nothing official or anything. Plus, I’m sure you’d say family trumps romance, at least in this case.”

“…” Listen to him, even if he had his apprehension about it. Kouji was already leaning on the side of moving back to his old town. “So what, you want permission or something? I ain’t your mom.”

“I guess not.” He asked her specifically, because of all the girls, he felt they were most distance. Kouji thought that if even she wanted him to stay, that it pretty much summed up all the other girl’s answers. But even if she was fine with him gone, then that doesn’t really mean what the others would think.

But that’s not really his problem. No, something else had been brewing for a bit now. That whole interaction they had in the convenience store, left him with a bad taste. Even after that talk on the train, are they really that distant? Perhaps these two were more apart than he imagined.

The truth of the matter was, that Teru was still battling with what she really felt. The idea of him leaving, and her being the only one to stop it, even if untrue, flooded her mind. It was already bad enough, to think of what Himawari did to turn him around. But that’s just what she should’ve expected all along. What could some tomboy like her do to convince him or anyone to stay? Compared to the prim and proper twin tailed girl, she was a mess.

But the worst part of it all. She wasn’t sure if making Kouji continue being their tutor was a good idea. Sure, he might say that it’s just some silly idea. Though, with the way he’s saying it, she can sense the false tone he’s putting on. Like when you ask a hypothetical, that you really are considering.

She can somewhat relate to his situation. Her own familial relationships weren’t amazing before he came in. But it was thanks to him, that she saw a better way. If he has the same chance, then who was she, or anyone else to keep him from it?

“Ah never mind.” He said. “I’ll just talk with the headmistress about it. After all, she’s the one that’s handling my enroll-”

“Just listen to me.” Teru cut him off, grabbing the boy by the collar. “You should put yourself first sometimes.” Then, she did something that neither of them expected. The girl pushed her lips to his, kissing him for the first time. It wasn’t something that she had ever done in her life, and despite his own experience, Kouji was caught off-guard by this.

If you asked her why she did this, she wouldn’t be able to tell you. Perhaps it was because of the heat of the moment. Or maybe because this was a true confession, because she felt that she wouldn’t have to face him afterwards. Either way, she made a decision that she wasn’t going to be able to easily walk back on.

“So you should stay here.” She said, as she back away from him. Her cheeks were blazing a burning fire, and his weren’t so different. “I’ll tell the headmistress, so don’t worry about her.”

“Teru…” Kouji was near speechless. The idea of staying with his uncle was no longer in his mind at this very moment.

“And… This is goodbye.” With that, she left him in a flash. Dashing away with her eyes closed, trying to keep the tears from falling down her cheeks. Kouji took one step to try and follow her, but with her speed, there was no way of catching the girl.

***

Teru didn’t have anywhere in particular to run in this town. It was all foreign land for her, as she ran along the sidewalks. There was only one place she could think of going to, which is where she mad a beeline towards. That place being the train station that she got off on with Kouji earlier this morning.

The girl made her way there, and found the nearest bench to sit on. Running all the way there was tiresome, causing her to be out-of-breath. Since it was a quiet time for the station, she was the only person there, only her tired breathing was the lone sound here.

A part of her was glad with how tired she was. Focusing entirely on her breathing, helped keep her mind off of what just occurred. However, it didn’t take long for her to regain her wind, and force her to confront with what she just did. What she just said to him.

Both her hands covered her face, as she leaned downwards. Of all the things she had to do, why did she have to lose control like that? It was unlike how she normally was, hiding all her embarrassing feelings. Repressing it all this time, well things were bound to blow up.

Then again, maybe it was for the best, she thought. Maybe he might’ve been convinced by her outburst, to stay with his uncle. That was something she truly believed was right, though whether or not that was the correct thing for him to do, the jury was still out on that.

“I’m really uncool, aren’t I?” She curled her legs up onto the bench. It had been a long time she ever felt this insecure about herself. And not in the image department, but more for the life department. Why did she feel this way about the boy? He shouldn’t be anything special. In fact, she still remembered the days when she would hate on him whenever the two ran into each other. That happened pretty often, considering where he lived in conjunction to the academy. Not to mention, that her only friends during that time went to his school.

When did things change so much? When did she start to considering as a friend? As more than a friend? Maybe it was just some dumb crush all along, and Teru just made herself the real fool all along.

“Hmm? Is that you, Teru?” A voice grabbed her attention from her angst-filled thinking. Of course, it was none other than Isako. The woman had just completed her last meeting, so she had arrived but was surprised at what she saw. It certainly wasn’t something she was expecting to see after what happened this morning. “What’s wrong, did something happen?”

“Kouji’s staying here.” She said, after spending a moment to gather herself. That was all she said, which lead to a lot of confusion for the headmistress. Though not in the way that the young girl would’ve thought.

“But, he’s sitting right next to you.”

“What?” Slowly, she turned her head, which led to him entering her line of vision in shocking fashion.

“Um, hi.” He nervously waved to her.

...The scream from the girl was much too loud to describe, and certainly was more than any man’s ears should ever have to suffer.