In total silence, Umika could feel her heart racing fast and irregular especially when she inched closer towards Chinen's face.

Chinen has his gaze completely down, disappointed with himself from the conflict earlier that he couldn't hold himself together. Umika brought her fingers with a cleaning gauze near to the sides of his lips and dressed his wounds. it was the first time she touched on those seductive lips that she gulped down a lump of saliva due to her extreme nervousness. trying to retain her consciousness and sanity, she carefully tended to his bruised lips. Suddenly, he grabbed her by her wrist when she was just about to finish applying the medicine.

"you think Mirai will be okay?" he looked into her eyes and ask worriedly.

"un... Mirai is strong right. I'm sure she'll be okay. she's probably ranting to her brother or maybe she managed to contact Ryosuke already. she's independent in that sense"

"I hope so..." he sighed.

"but, Chinen, why are you fighting with Yuto? I've never seen you so angry before,"

"he's... he's downright idiotic...he's..." Chinen saw Umika's confused face and decided not to burden her with this secret so he slouched back into his seat.

"did I scare you just now?" he asked.

"a little,"

then Chinen realised that while he was struggling against her restrain during the fight, he could possibly have injure her.

"did I hurt you just now?" he started surveying her, causing Umika to blush as she became the center of his attraction.

"n-no...I'm fine Chinen... I'm just... just very worried for.." she nervously played with her fingers, twirling her skirt, as she hesitated to tell him her feelings.

"for?"

"y-you~" she mumbled. She thought he didn't hear it, but in fact, he heard it clearly. Chinen felt happy about what Umika said,but dared not think too much between the lines. he thought it was meant just as a friend's concern.

"I'm perfectly okay. arigatou Umika...oh ya, what do you wanna talk to me about earlier? lets go to our regular cafe to chat over it, I'll treat you" he smiled. He causally took her by her hand and ushered her beside him as they moved across the fields towards the exit of the school. he was so engrossed in pacing his steps that he didnt notice Umika's tint of red on her face. She was mesmerized by his back view and immersed by his firm grip of her hand as he pulled her along that she didn't even realise she has stopped breathing a while ago. 

****
"uwahhh Itai!" Chinen grunted as soon as he took a big mouth of waffle, completely forgetting about his bruised lips.

"Daijoubu Daijoubu?" Umika became so uptight that Chinen felt amused.

"I'm okay, relax. so... what is it about?" 

"I... I haven't told Mirai about my participation in the competition. I think it feels so trivial to bother about this when she is so troubled by other stuff" she buried her head with her palms, with total distress

"oh gosh. it totally slipped out of my mind. sorry, I said I'll help you...but you're right, this doesn't seem to be the right time to tell her. maybe keep it stall for the time being."

Umika nodded since this seemed to be the only resolution.

"but Umika, do you hope to win?"

"I..." 

"you know, Mirai wants to win very much for this competition. so if you do wanna win too, then it is even more necessary to let her know your participation,"

"though I wanna win, I doubt I'll win. it's my first attempt anyway. so if I don't win, then there's no issue right?"

"yeah. so pardon me for my evil thoughts, I'm hoping none of you win,"

"heh even Mirai?!"

"yeah her too. if she wins, you'll be upset too. I don't want to see you sulk" he chuckled.

Umika felt a fuzzy feeling through her veins, when she found Chinen's subtle concern for her. she hid her blush by covering her face with the cup of peach tea. 

****
Yuto sat alone in the park near Mirai's house. he unconsciously ran there after dismissing Suzuka who wanted to tend to his facial wounds. He disregarded the superficial injuries as the pain in his heart felt much more intense.

"Chinen is right. I'm acting like as though everything is fine but it is actually not. I mind seeing Mirai with Ryosuke, hanging out, chatting, being on lovey and reliant," he lowered his head against the sunlight and a lone drop of tear trickled down. "What am I going to do?"

he pressed the keys on his phone, spamming calls after calls to Mirai but there was absolutely no answer. "Could she be with her brother? or Ryosuke?"

Frustration after frustration, Yuto covered his throbbing head with his palms, feeling extremely dejected and exhausted. One thing became clear to him, he never liked Rika. she was meant only as a way to deceive himself, to deceive others that he has gotten over his crush. but the truth is, Mirai never vacate from his heart.

Dialing the number on his cell that he could never resonate properly, he breathed in deeply and let it go.

"Rika~"

"Yuto! I thought you never want to talk to me forever~" Rika expressed relief but such relief only made it harder for Yuto to go on.

"can we meet? I need to tell you something~" Yuto maintained a cold, restless voice.

"alright! where and when?"

"now, lets meet at the park near your house~"

"Yatta! okay I'll prepare and head out right away" the excited Rika hung up the phone as soon as the conversation ended. Yuto sighed as he withdrew the phone from his ears.

"Gomenasai, Rika" he tightened his fist and braced for the storm that he was about to stir.

"Mirai~what should I do? I really love you... I'm so madly in love with you, I can't take my mind and eyes off you..." he collapsed himself on the bench and let the calm breeze dull his inner pain. 

*****
It seemed like Ryosuke has fallen deep into sleep forever. his dreams were so unbelievably comforting that he just forced himself to see the ending before he wakes... In his unconsciousness, he saw a boy who resembled so much like his younger self, running around in a beautiful yard. but whenever he tried going close to the boy, he runs further from him. 

"wait, wait up!" regardless how loud he shouted, his surroundings seemed to swallow his voice. in a distance, he found the boy moving towards a lady in a white casual gown. the wind blows the tip of her dress, allowing the frills to dance along the wind direction. it was absolutely stunning, but his vision of the lady was restricted by the misty fog. 

"okasan? is it you?" he immediately thought the gorgeous lady was his mother many years ago, since he has a conception that boy was him. it's his dream after all. the imagery of the mother-son was pixel perfect. the lady walked closer, but still her face was blurred even when she's an inch away. he felt a warm sensation in his hand, and when he looked down, he found her hand wrapped securely around his.

"okasan..." he called again while trying to sweep the fog away from his view to get a better view of her, but to no avail.

when he saw his doppelgänger mouthed something and tried to decifer what he was telling him, a dark hole appeared beneath his feet. without warning, he fell right in "uwaaaaaaa okasan!"

he pried open his eyes and realised it was all a dream. yet it was too real cause he felt a light pressure on his hand. he looked towards the source and found Mirai's head leaning right at his bedside, with her fingers entwined with his. A brief smile of simple happiness crept up his face at the sight of his silly girlfriend. Perhaps it's because he has been lying for too long, when he sat up, he felt his bones and muscles aching, though he recovered quickly.

Careful not to wake her up, he leaned closer and brushed her hair   away to reveal her side profile and her neckline.

she may not be the prettiest girl he has met, but her innocent face,even her sleeping face, was mesmerizing and soothing to his pleasure. unlike other days, something unusual on her neck caught his attention.

his fingers maneuvered gently around a bluish black spot that was partially revealing from her collar. He was sure it was a bruise but wanted to observe how extensive it was.

"Ryosuke?" Mirai sat up quickly and Ryosuke's hands withdrew. 

Before Ryosuke could even say a word, Mirai rushed to speak before him with an extremely emotional tone. "Ryosuke, Gomenasai!! I'm wrong, I'm really wrong, please forgive me!" tears were already b in her eyes. upon closer look, Ryosuke realised her eyes was already red swollen and her eye bags were ridiculously thick. He knew at once that her past 2 days were no better than his physical pain, and that he was her source of unrest.

"shhh... don't cry. listen to me first before you waste your tears," he cupped her face and brushed her wet cheeks with his thumbs.

"I have my wrong too. I didn't understand you well enough, so I ended up throwing tantrums at you. I have my flaws and you have been proving and trying so hard to accept each of my flaws, yet I haven't tried to understand yours. your innocence, your recklessness, your carelessness and whatever other flaws you may have, I promise you from now that I'll learn to accept each one of them, alright?"

"Ryosuke~" she jumped towards him and embraced him tightly.

"you're suffocating me, Mirai" he chuckled, and she quickly loosen her arms. He caressed her back and leaned his head on her neck.

"how many nights have you been crying and how long did you sleep for the past 2 days. you look horrible," Ryosuke whispered in her ears and she self-consciously pulled away from his arms.

"is it really obvious?" she maneuvered in her bag for her portable mirror, only to be stopped by Ryosuke.

"it's obvious, but I don't really care... come here," he tap on the space beside him by his bed, and she complied, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder beside him. though it has only been two days, she really missed being by his side that she couldn't take her eyes off him.He tactfully ushered her to lean on his lap and this immensely challenged the limits of her very endurance. Her heart skipped not one beat but many beats as she lowered her body on hi