“I wonder why Rin and Hikaru didn’t go to lunch earlier…” Yabu said as he rested an elbow on the table.

 You see, the band members were now all gathered inside a fast food restaurant because Hikaru told them to go there.

 “And why are we gathered here??” Hanna wondered too.

 Meanwhile, Kim and Kei just smiled at each other in delight knowing that Rin is now back to her old self. They still didn’t know anything about what REALLY happened earlier…Rin’s confession to Hikaru that is.

 About ten minutes later…

 “MINNAAA~~!!” Hikaru waved at them with his free hand while as his other hand…held Rin’s left hand.

 “Yo—” Kei was just about to greet Hikaru back but then he saw Hikaru’s hand linked to Rin’s.

 Everyone then quickly noticed this and looked from Rin to Hikaru to their hands and then vice versa.

 “Ma~ I guess it’s obvious already.” Hikaru grinned. “Rin-chan and I are now a couple.”

 “EHHHHHHHHHHH????!”

 ~.~.~

 “I’m sure I’ll get the highest grade again…” Kei smirked as he sat comfortably on his seat while he was looking at Kim.

 “Pffft~ I studied hard enough, I’m sure I’ll be highest.” Kim stuck her tongue out at her boyfriend.

 Even though these two are a couple, you still can’t remove their competition in class rankings.

 “And now, here are your rankings…” their teacher stood up from her seat and held up a single sheet of paper. “I will read them to you now…”

 “Starting from the BOTTOM,…” the teacher continued. “Takaki Yuya…”

 The teacher continued on with saying the class rankings to her students and after several minutes, she had finally come to the top five students.

 “Rank five: “Yaotome Hikaru…

 …Rank four: Sakuraba Aya…

…Rank three: Inoo Kei”

 “EHHHHHHHHH??!?????” Kei protested from the back of the class.

 “Rank two: Orihara Kim”

 “WHAAATTTT???” Kim yelled from her seat.

“Rank one: Kitagawa Rin”

 “HAAAAAAAAAA????!??” Kim and Kei both hanged their mouths open, reaching the floor, as they looked at Rin who was now blinking, thinking that she misheard what the sensei had just said.

 “I’m WHAT?” Rin blinked once more.

 “First. Top of the class.” The teacher smiled at her. She then smiled at the class. “That’s all. Dismissed.”

 And with that, Hikaru abruptly stood up from his seat and immediately approached Rin.

 “Omedettou!!” He said and then leaned down to kiss her forehead. This was just enough to make Rin blink MANY MORE times as she was now dumbfounded on her seat all because of what Hikaru did.

 Hikaru was just about to say something or give her another kiss but just then…

 “RIN-CHAN WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” Kim and Kei were now walking side by side as they approached her.

 “Wha—I just reviewed!” Rin chuckled at the state of the devastated couple. Never in their lives did they expect that another person would beat them in the field of academics.

 ~.~.~

 Time seemed to have gone too fast as tomorrow is already the prom night of Rin’s school.

 Yes…two months have already passed.

 Everyday, Rin would always bug Hikaru with texts and the latter would never reply via texts…because he would call her instead. The couple didn’t miss a single weekend not going out in the mall or in the arcade or in the amusement park…they never seem to run out of places to go to.

However, one time…

 “Ne Rin-chan, what’s this?” Hikaru asked after Rin came out of the ladies’ room. Before she went inside, she had asked Hikaru to look out for her bag and Hikaru seemed to have been really curious about what’s inside Rin’s bag.

 “Nothing~” Rin said as she immediately snatched the small white container from Hikaru’s hand. She then took her bag back and placed the container inside it. “None of your business…”

 “What? None of your business?? I’m your boyfriend…”

 “Just—could you wait ‘til tomorrow evening?” Rin said, forcing herself to blink back any forming tears in the corner of her eyes. The thought of Hikaru knowing that she has a disease is just too painful for her. She knows that if he knew it, he would change. He would always worry for her. He would be stressed out because of her. And she doesn’t want that to happen. She doesn’t want that to happen to any of her friends.

 “Why not now??” Hikaru asked again.

 “Just please! Wait until tomorrow okay!?”

 Hikaru lowered his head. “H-hai…if you say so…”

 ~.~.~.~

 Rin added a final touch of makeup to her face and stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Perfect dress.

 Perfect makeup.

 Perfect weather.

 Depressing situation.

 She inhaled and exhaled deeply. Ten seconds later, she stared at her eyes in the mirror.

 She thought about her friends…about Hikaru.

 She can’t take it any longer, if she gets closer to them and falls deeper for Hikaru, things would just get a lot more complicated. If she ‘leaves’, they will be left sad and lonely and longing for her and she does not want that. All she wants is for them to be happy. Especially Hikaru. She thinks that he will be the one who will hurt the most when he knows that his girlfriend is sick and is near to…you get the idea.

 A single tear fell from Rin’s cheek and she wiped it right away, not wanting it to ruin her perfect look and so that no other tear would follow.

 “Okay…” she inhaled. “Tonight will be the night that I will be breaking up with Yaotome Hikaru.” She told herself as she grabbed her bag and an envelope that contained her drop out letter in school.

>> CHAPTER END <<

A/N: I am sorry if the story went too fast!! XD
      Rin-chan, I hope you're crying. :PP

      FINAL CHAPTER IS NEXT!!