Now that Nino mentioned it, I can't really imagine what would have happened if she was still here. She's gone. I can't change that. None of us can. "It's even possible that one of us would have ended up with her. Nothing will be the same." I told him. Most probably, it'll be you who could end up with her. 

"Riida?" I looked up. "You've been staring into space for a minute now." I looked at Nino.

"I.." I looked back down. Rain started to pour. I felt tears fall out at the same time. ".. miss her.."

---~~~---

"Oh-chan hurry!" She said as we ran to the department store. As soon as we were already under the roofed part, she closed the umbrella and put it in the bucket of umbrellas by the entrance. "Good thing the rain wasn't that strong, huh." She was catching her breath.

"Are you okay?" I was a bit worried because we ran a bit. She nodded and smiled. I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist. We entered the building. "What will you get for Jun?"

"Hm. I'm still thinking." She was looking around. She started walking so I followed.

"Hey, this looks nice." I said as I got a knit cap from a shelf. This would suit Matsujun.

"That's a great idea! Oh-chan, let's go!" She grabbd my arm so I dropped the cap back onto the shelf. She pulled me and we walked around the department store.

"Wait! Where are we going?" I asked. Why did we leave that section when that's what we've decided to buy...

"There!" She pointed to a store. Ah, of course. We walked in the needlework shop and she immediately went to the yarns. She picked three colors; purple, white and black. She really knows how to pick these stuff, huh.

Now that we already bought the gifts for Matsujun, we went back to the main entrance of the building. We saw it was still raining.

"Ah!" Chiyomi shouted. She pointed to the bucket where umbrellas were supposed to be placed. "Mine's gone!" Not a single umbrella was there.

"Want to buy another one?" I asked her as I pulled out my wallet from my pocket to check if I still had enough money. I was about to open it until she stopped my hand.

"I feel like running under the rain." She smiled. She put the plastic with the yarns inside her bag. I was watching her as she got ready to run.

"Wait, are you sure you're going to be okay? Running?" I was worried, I remembered what happened during the field trip during the last year of middle school.

"I'm fine as long as I'm not alone. That's what my doctor said. And the rain isn't that strong either so I can manage."

"If you say so..." We started running. .. Well, brisk walking.

"Ahaha! It's been ages since I last ran under the rain!" She said that as she was already catching her breath. I stopped. She turned and looked at me. I grabbed her arm. "Why?" She insisted to stay under the rain.

"I can't afford to lose you again!" Whoa. I can't believe my thoughts just automatically came out of my mouth. She kept quiet. I didn't know what to do anymore.

"Chiyomi..."

"I'm sorry." She held my hand which was holding her other arm. She put her head on my shoulder. I let go of her arm and placed my hand around her back to pull her closer into a hug. I swear, doing that in this situation - under the rain - looked like those dramatic scenes in movies or whatever.

She sneezed. I let go of her and removed my jacket around my waist. I covered her head with it and we briskly walked towards her apartment.

While we were in the elevator, I noticed her shaking. This is bad. We arrived at the third floor. She got her keys from her pocket. She opened the door. She fell to the floor, well, not exactly. She just suddenly sat down.

First thing I thought of was if her mother was home. She sneezed again.

"Oh-chan.." She softly said. I knelt beside her.

"Hm?" She tried to stand up. I helped her because I knew her; once she's caught a cold, her body will become very weak. So as she stood up, I carried her. She was too light. I became worried. We went to her room and I put her down on her bed.

"Is your mom home?" I asked as I looked around.

"No.."

"Do you have any medicine? Or do you want warm water?" I looked at her, she was asleep.

I went to the kitchen and boiled some water. I went to the medicine box and looked for some colds medicine. Now's not the time to feel embarrassed inside her apartment. I thought she'd be hungry so I opened the refrigirator. Nothing.

I stopped the boiling water so that it won't be too hot. I honestly didn't know how to do this. But I just got a small towel and dipped it into the warm water. Then it was too hot so I dropped the towel. Oh no, the floor's wet. But after a few seconds, I picked it up and wrung it. I could already handle the water's heat so I moved back to her room with the towel and the basin of warm water. I wrung the towel again and folded it. I pushed her bangs to the side and gently placed the towel on her forehead.

I went back to the medicine box to see if by any chance, the thermometer was there and fortunately, it was. I went back to her room to check her temperature. 38.4º C. Oh no. It's my fault. I allowed her to stay under the rain with me. And she even ran. I got the towel on her forehead, soaked it under the basin of warm water and wrung it again. I put it back on her forehead. I held her red cheeks and stood up to go back to the kitchen to mop the water I spilled a while ago.

"Don't leave." I stopped when I felt a hand pulling my shirt. I turned to look at her. Her eyes were slightly opened. "Don't leave me again."

I looked at her. Her eyes were wet, but she wasn't crying. I held the hand she used to pull my shirt. It was cold, her fingers were shaking. I knelt to the ground. I was holding her hand with both my hands. She pulled our hands and put it on her cheek.

"So warm.." She closed her eyes and smiled. I felt her hand became light. She fell asleep. I put her hand on her side and pulled her blanket up until her shoulders. I removed the towel on her forehead. I leaned and kissed her forehead.

"Oh-chan." I heard her. I let go and leaned back immediately.

"You were awake?!" I stuttered.

"It's cold." She pulled up her blanket and sat up. I must be out of my mind. I sat beside her and hugged her. I hugged her tightly. The moment I was back to my senses, I still didn't want to let her go. Either I was concious or not, that was all I wanted to do at the moment -- to just hold her tight.

"You're unfair, you know that?" She laughed with her voice a bit shaky. She hugged me from the back then she put her head on my shoulder.

"Wait! You're still sick!" I felt the high temperature from her forehead. "You need to go back to sleep." I finally let go. I helped her go back to lying down.

"It's cold.." Her voice, once again, stopped me from standing up. "Don't leave, again." I looked at her, her face was unusually red. It wasn't the normal pale face she had. "Stay.. with me.." 

I gave up. I sat back down. I held her warm cheeks. "You're the one who's unfair." I chuckled.

---~~~---

"Chiyomi!" I heard the door shut. I opened my eyes. Took me a while to realize what position I was in. I couldn't really move. My arms were around her. Her head was on my left arm. I looked around. It was a bit dark. The door of her room was closed. The only source of light was coming from outside, the lightpost right in front of her building. It was already late!

"Chiyomi? Are you there?" Someone knocked on the door. It was her mother. I was a bit panicky of what she would think when she sees me lying down beside her daughter on her daughter's bed! I quickly covered the two of us under the blanket. Damn.

The door opened. "Oh, she's asleep.." She whispered. She closed the door slowly.

"Oh-chan?" Chii whispered. I panicked. I quickly got off the bed and stood up.

"I didn't do anything weird, I swear!!" I said. My head was down. I was too embarrassed. Then I looked at her when she started laughing.

"Thank you." She smiled and stood up. "I feel a lot better now." I could still see her face, despite the darkness. It was a bit awkward in my perspective, because I'm alone with her, in her room, the lights are off... 

"A-a-anyway.. I think your mom's home." I stammered.

"Oh!" She went to open the room but I was able to stop her in time.

"Wait! She might think it's weird that I'm here right now when she didn't see me a while ago!" I was thinking of good excuses to tell her mom but I'm not that good in these stuff.

"Don't worry." Of course, Chii is a fast thinker when it comes to these.

She opened the door. We both looked around, no one else was present. 

"She might have gone again.." I sighed of relief. We went to the kitchen. I looked at the spot where I spilled the water a while ago. It was dry.

"Ahh~ I'm so hungry~" Chiyomi went to the refrigirator and opened it.

"Ah, it's empty-" Oh. Her mom must've gone to the grocery store.

The door opened. "Eh? Chiyomi?" Crap. Her mother looked at me as I stood behind Chii. "Satoshi-kun?"

---~~~---

"Ahh~ So that's what happened?" Chii's mom laughed while we were eating dinner. She offered that I stay for dinner.

"Yes, Oh-chan went through the trouble of buying me medicine." Chiyomi smiled. What a lie. Her mom could check the medicine box and find out that there were a lot left from before.

No. Her mother stood up. No. She's going to the medicine box. Oh no. She opened it.

"Ah~ Thanks for buying this much, Satoshi-kun! I'm glad we have more stock of medicine." Her mother smiled. 

"Ah, ah, sure..." Wow. Chii could really manipulate anyone with her lies..

"So Satoshi-kun climbed up to your veranda since he thought you might be sleeping and you couldn't open the door for him. Ah, that makes sense!" Ha. Haha. 

"Yes!" Chiyomi said. Her mother laughed.

"It's what Kazunari-kun used to do a lot." Her mother said as she sat back down on her chair. Eh? Kazunari? Nino goes here often?

---~~~---

"Thanks for the meal!" The three of us said. We stood up and placed our plates in the sink.

"Satoshi-kun, you can stay a bit longer since it's still raining hard." Her mother said.

"No, I can go-"

"Oh-chan, stay." Stay.. with me.. Her words kept ringing in my ear.

"Fine." I said. "Then I should help with the dishes, Mihara-san."

"No no, it's okay. The two of you stay in Chii's room. I'll bring some cake I bought after I'm done with these." She smiled at me. I didn't really know what it meant, that smile.

The two of us walked to her room. We sat on the floor, our backs leaning on the side of the bed. 

"So, Nino always goes here?" I asked. I was curious. And to be honest, I was jealous.

"Yeah." She smiled.

"Are you two.. together?" This question's been on my mind. Everyone else is thinking this. But neither Chii nor Nino mentions it.

"Just like everyone else, huh." She seemed a bit disappointed. "No, we aren't together." I sighed to myself. "But it's weird because we do things that couples usually do." She giggled.

"What things?" 

"You know, holding hands, cuddling, those stuff." She laughed. "Well I do those with all five of you but Nino holds my hand a lot in public. That's why everyone thinks we're a couple."

"Did you... kiss?" What's wrong with me today? I'm letting everything slip out of my mouth.

Chii was silent. It was a yes. I knew it. 

I held her hand. I leaned towards her and kissed her. Oh damn. I leaned back and looked at her. Her eyes, beautiful as always. She smiled. 

The door flew open. "Here's the cake!" Her mom went in the room. Woah. What could've happened if she went in while I was kissing her?!

---~~~---

To be continued. :)

YAAAAAY~~ FINALLY UPDATED AFTER 2 MONTHS!!

I'm sorry guys, I actually finished this chapter halfway long ago but I wasn't able to continue it since I had a really big problem and I was really sad. But now that my problem's solved, I'M SO HAPPYYYY~~ 

Anyway, like the previous chapter, Nino's POV, this chapter doesn't have a 'past'. It only has a future then the present.

Lilies = Pure love~

Okay, I shall say this again, THIS FANFIC IS NOT YET OVER~ 

Next Chapter:

........ 

CHIYOMI'S POV!!