_{(5,131 words)}

“Papa! Look it’s snowing!” Ciarra giggled as she caught a cherry blossom in her little hands.
“No sweety, that’s a cherry blossom. You know, if you walk with the one you like while the blossoms fall during the spring blossom festival, your love is sure to have good fortune the whole year.” Ciarra’s father told her. “Shall we walk together?”
“No papa, I don’t want to fall in love with you! I like Kandori-chan!” Ciarra pouted.
“Ha ha ha, you like Kandori-kun huh? Well he better treat my little princess nice.” Ciarra’s father lifted his 8-year old daughter and carried her home in his arms.
To Ciarra, those were the strongest arms in the world. Ciarra looked up at her father’s face but it was so blurry, she concentrated and it began to gain focus when…
“Ciarra-chan! Wake up!” Ciarra jolted awake to pounding on her door. "Ciarra-chan? Are you awake yet?”
“Yeah yeah. Give me a sec.” Ciarra grumpily got out of bed.
“Ciarra-chaaaannnn!!!!”
“I said give me a sec, moron!” Ciarra yelled at the closed door.

Ciarra finished getting dressed for school and grabbed the envelope of money her mother left for her on the kitchen table.
“I’m leaving now!” She called back to the empty house.
“Morning Ciarra-chan.” The cute young boy standing by the front door greeted her.
“Morning Baka.” She looked at Kandori Bagley, her friend and neighbor for 16 years.
“I told you to stop calling me that.” Kandori frowned.
“What? “Ba” for Bagley and “Ka” for Kandori, don’t blame me, blame your parents.” Ciarra teased.
“Just don’t call me that. I don’t like being called idiot.” Kandori said.
“Stupid is as stupid does.” Ciarra mumbled.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Let’s go!” Ciarra pulled Kandori’s hand.

As they got to school, a young man with long blonde hair and dark eyes ran up to them. He gave Ciarra a kiss on the cheek.
“Hey Kandori, thanks for always walking Ciarra to school. I don’t know why the soccer team always practices so early in the morning.”
Kandori placed a hand on his best friend’s shoulder and sighed. “Jessie, she’s your girlfriend, walk with her yourself.”
“But she always wakes up so late and she’s kinda scary in the mornings.” Jessie complained.
“Pssh. Try living next door to her.” Kandori agreed, nodding his head.
The two boys flinched as Ciarra hit them with her bag.
Ciarra glared at the two and walked away. She passed by Rian, who greeted her warmly.
“Morning Ciarra-chan. Have you seen Kandori?”
“Good morning Rian-sempai. Yes, he’s over there talking to Jessie.” Ciarra pointed.
“Thanks.” Rian walked over to Kandori.

When Kandori got to class, Ciarra asked him “Hey, did you see Rian-sempai? What did she want to talk to you about?”
“Yep, she just wanted to discuss the final decisions for the upcoming cherry blossom festival.” Kandori said flustered.
“Okay. By the way…” Ciarra looked closely at Kandori’s face. “Are you wearing lipstick?”
“Oh? Uh…” Kandori wiped his mouth with his handkerchief.
“You…” Ciarra growled, “You guys go do that stuff at home!”

“Boring. Why is world history so boring?” Ciarra thought as she sat through class. Suddenly she felt something hit her shoulder and drop down onto her desk. It was a folded sheet of paper.
Opening the note, she read it to herself. “Hey baby, wuz up? U mis me? I’ve been thinking abut u lots. txt me after skool and well hang out sometime, k? Richie rich”
She glared at the sender, Richard, her ex-boyfriend and the king of all scum. She gave him the finger and ripped up the note.

When lunch time finally rolled around, Ciarra ran to the cafeteria and bought two turkey and swiss sandwiches and two cans of apple juice. Balancing the food in her arms, she walked to Jessie’s classroom. Nudging open the door with her foot, she walked in and ended up face to face with the second person she dreaded as most as Richard, his new girlfriend, Lacey.
“Hey, what’s up?” Ciarra tried to walk by her but Lacey put out an arm.
“What’s up is that you are, slut.” Lacey sneered.
“What? That doesn’t even make any sense.” Ciarra tried to push past Lacey.
Lacey kept her arm up and was going to say something when her head suddenly jerked back.
“Hey bitch, stay away from Ciarra. You hear me?” Carmen, Ciarra’s best friend, had Lacey’s hair in her tight fist. “Now go over there with the rest of the whores.” Carmen tossed Lacey aside.
Lacey glared at Carmen but didn’t say anything. Carmen was one of the head cheerleaders and to go against that group was social suicide.
“Thanks.” Ciarra grinned as she followed Carmen to the tables where Jessie and Kandori already were.
Jessie and Carmen exchanged high fives. Ciarra tossed Jessie a sandwich and juice. All four of them stared in wonder at Kandori’s delicious looking bento lunch that Rian had made for him.
“Where’s my Bento?” Jessie pouted, looking at Ciarra.
“Make it yourself.” Ciarra replied as she took a sip of her juice.
“Jessie-kun, I made a lot, so you can share mine.” Carmen suggested as she opened her own bento.
Ciarra looked at Carmen with big sad eyes.
“Oh all right, you can have some too.” Carmen laughed.
“Yay! I love you Carmen-chaaan.” Ciarra snatched a meat ball from Carmen's food, dipped it in Kandori’s hot sauce and ate it.
“You better not be making moves on my man though.” Ciarra said with her mouth full with false suspicion.
“How can you say that after you eat my food?” Carmen countered. “Besides, I don’t even like Jessie-kun!”
Jessie groaned softly.
“But if you don’t act all lovey dovey with him, some one might steal him away from you.” Carmen said casually.
“Any girl or guy, for that matter, who comes within 5 feet of my man dies by this sword!” Ciarra announced as she lifted up a spoon, which had rice stuck to it.
“Hey Queen Arthur, either use Excalibur to shovel some food into that big mouth or give it back to me.” Kandori said, suppressing a laugh.
“What!? Divine retribution!” Ciarra tackled Kandori.
Jessie and Carmen looked at each other quickly then dove for Kandori’s unprotected bento.

Despite Ciarra proudly proclaiming she was part of the “go home and sleep” club, she did feel lonely walking home alone when Jessie, Kandori and Carmen went to their after school activities.
“Can’t be helped.” She said to herself as she grabbed her bag and walked out of the school.
She screamed as she was drenched with cold water. With murderous intent, she glared at Lacey holding the bucket.
“Ooops, now you’re all wet. Go melt away now.” Lacey laughed.
“You trying to start something?” Ciarra threw down her bag.
“Let’s go, bitch.” Lacey threw her bucket away, yowling like a cat, she ran towards Ciarra.
A student caught her arm.
“What the? Let go of me.” Lacey angrily turned to the person.
“Oh? Matthew, what are you doing here?” Ciarra was surprised by the young man’s sudden appearance.
Lacey angrily snatched her arm away and glowered at Matthew, when he didn’t look away, she stepped back and gave him the finger, “fucking Emo freak”. She spun and gritted her teeth. “Watch yourself, Bellsong. You won’t always have a guard dog.”

While Ciarra and Matthew walked to her house, Ciarra asked him a lot of questions but he replied only in short answers.
“So, how much farther is your house?” Ciarra asked when they got to her front gate.
“It’s the Morning Son Housing complex” Matthew replied.
“What! That’s on the other side of town, opposite of this way! I’m so sorry.” Ciarra apologized.
“It’s fine.” Matthew shrugged as he walked back.
---

When Kandori rang Ciarra’s doorbell, the last thing he expected was for her to come out, ready for the day.
“Good morning Ciarra-chan. What’s that?” Kandori tried to peek at the package in Ciarra’s hand.
“None of your business, now let’s move!” Ciarra began to walk away and Kandori ran after her.

“Jessie, I have something for you.” Ciarra dropped the package on the desks during lunch.
“What’s that?” Jessie asked.
“It’s a bento! I made it for you.” Ciarra smiled as she unwrapped it.
“Try some.” Ciarra shoved the bento towards Jessie, “I said Eat it!”
“Okay… here goes.” Kandori and Carmen watched anxiously while Jessie took a bite out of an omelet.
“Wow. It’s actually pretty good?” Jessie said after swallowing.
“What do you mean actually pretty good? You sound surprised.” Ciarra said with a raised eyebrow.
“Uh, never mind. Let’s eat!” Jessie ate some rice.
Ciarra huffed then turned to Carmen. “Hey, how come you got two bentos today? Who’s the other one for? A secret boyfriend, perhaps?”
Kandori and Jessie both dropped their chopsticks and everyone stared at Carmen.
“No! It’s nothing like that! It’s for… Darren Sensei, yeah Darren-senei…” Carmen waved her hands in front of her.
“I think Darren Sensei has a fiancee, you girls should give it up.” Jessie picked up his chopsticks and continued eating.
“Well, if he’s not going to eat it, how about you give it to Matthew.” Ciarra suggested.
“Matthew? Who’s Matthew?” Jessie asked, a piece of rice flying out of his mouth.
“EEW! That’s so disgusting! Don’t talk with you mouth full!” Ciarra pointed to the table where Matthew was eating a sandwich alone. “Matthew, him”.
“Why would I do that? I don’t even know the guy.” Carmen frowned.
“Because he’s really nice and helped me yesterday when that crazy girl, Lacey attacked me again.” Ciarra explained.
“What? Are you okay? You should have told me!” Jessie said loudly.
“What for? It’s over.” Ciarra grabbed a sausage from Jessie’s bento.
“Because I’m your boyfriend. You need to tell me stuff like that.” Jessie said even louder.
“Just drop it, please.” Ciarra didn’t like how Jessie was raising his voice.
“Fine.” Jessie frowned.
Awkward…. all four of them thought as they ate in silence.
Suddenly Ciarra stood up and left, Carmen quickly following behind her.
“Oh man, what did I do wrong?” Jessie asked his equally confused best friend.

After school, Jessie didn’t have club practice so he offered to walk Ciarra home.
“Ciarra, baby, we need to talk about what’s going on between us.” Jessie interrupted the silence as they were walking.
“What’s going on between us?” Ciarra asked as she stared at the ground.
“We don’t really act like boyfriend and girlfriend, you know?” Jessie replied.
“Sure we do, we hold hands and kiss.” Ciarra answered back.
“Ciarra. I want to know, how do you really feel about me?” Jessie stopped in front of Ciarra.
She looked up at him and said “I love you, I think”.
“Are you not over Richard yet?” Jessie asked.
Ciarra laughed. “Him? That jerk will always be somewhere in my heart, but no, I never loved him.”
“Maybe we need some space or time to sort things out?” Jessie said.
“I don’t want that.” Ciarra frowned at Jessie.
“Me neither but it seems like we are getting more distant every day.” Jessie shook his head.
“Is there… someone else?” Ciarra asked searching in Jessie’s eyes.
“Ciarra, I love you. I want only for you to be happy.” Jessie put a hand against Ciarra’s cheek.
“Then what are you saying? Explain it so I understand.” Ciarra turned her head away from Jessie’s hand.
Jessie sighed. “I am visiting my grandfather tomorrow. I’ll give you until the school Cherry blossom festival to sort out your feelings. If you decide that you do love me, return to me.” Jessie said softly.
“Four days? I have to think it through and make a decision after four days?” Ciarra asked.
“Two are on a weekend, that’s plenty of time to think right? Ciarra, no matter what, I want you to be happy.” Jessie hugged Ciarra as the sun continued to set.
---

Ciarra was woken by Kandori for school, it was the same schedule again.
“No bento? Oh right, Jessie went to help his Grandfather with cherry blossom preparations at the temple. Is everything alright with you two?” Kandori asked as she came out and they walked to school.
“Baka, why did you ask me to go out with him?” Ciarra asked.
“Well, because he’s my best friend and after you dumped Richard, he asked me to introduce him to you.” Kandori scratched his head.
“If you didn’t meet Rian and I didn’t date Jessie, I wonder if we would have made a good couple?” Ciarra whispered to herself.
“What was that? Did you say soemthing?” Kandori asked.
“Nothing, let’s go baka.” Ciarra pulled Kandori’s hand.

When Ciarra went to the locker room to change from her gym clothes to her school uniform, she found her bag and clothes thrown in the shower.
“Lacey, you bitch!” Ciarra growled to herself.
After Carmen lent her a spare uniform, which to Ciarra’s grief, had too much space in the front, she found Lacey in the hallway.
“Hey Lacey! Was that you who threw my stuff in the water?” Ciarra fumed.
“What if it was, you gonna do something about it?” Lacey smiled in Ciarra’s face.
Lacey suddenly was pulled and spun around by Richard.
“What did you do to Ciarra’s stuff?” Richard asked.
“Nothing. It wasn’t me.” Lacey diverted her eyes.
Ciarra jumped as she saw Richard slap Lacey. Lacey’s eyes went wide and she started crying as her cheek began to redden and swell.
“Hey!” Ciarra put up a hand to pull Richard away when suddenly he was slammed against the lockers.
“Don’t do that again.” Kandori put his face in front of Richard’s so close, it would have been romantic in any other situation.
“Or what sissy boy?” Richard shoved Kandori back.
Punches were thrown when Matthew intervened and grabbed Kandori by the back of his shirt, tossing him backwards on the ground. Rian ran up to Kandori.
Richard, deciding he didn’t have enough, swung at Matthew.
Matthew ducked and flipped Richard into a row of metal lockers.
“Both of you will stop this right now!” Darren sensei’s voice froze the gathered crowd.
“Darren sensei, Matthew didn’t have anything to do…” Ciarra tried to explain but Darren interrupted her.
“I don’t care to hear it, all you children will go back to class. You two, follow me.” He pointed to Matthew and Richard.

After school, Ciarra didn’t go home. Kandori met her at the school entrance.
“Hey. Waiting for me?” Kandori asked.
“Dream on, idiot.” Ciarra laughed, playfully messing with Kandori’s hair.
“Oh, Carmen?” Kandori smoothed his hair with a hand.
“Nope. Him” Ciarra pointed to Matthew getting out of detention.
Matthew glanced at Kandori and Ciarra and continued walking past.
“Hey Matthew! Wait up!” Ciarra called out until she heard a single cough from behind her.
“Ciarra. Can we talk?” Richard asked.
“She has nothing to say to you.” Kandori stepped in front of Ciarra.
“It’s alright. What do you want Richard?” Ciarra softly pushed Kandori to the side.
Richard sneered at Kandori. “Can we talk in private?”
“I’ll be right over there.” Kandori walked a few steps away.

“Sorry about Lacey.” Richard said.
“I’m sorry for Lacey too. I should have warned her what a jerk you are.” Ciarra said.
Richard ignored her comment and said “You know, I still love you.”
“You are not the person I want to hear that from.” Ciarra sighed.
“What? You’re serious about Jessie? I hear he’s a fag.” Richard scoffed.
“Goodbye Richard, I hope to never see you again.” Ciarra turned.
“Wait you.” Richard grabbed Ciarra’s wrist.
“Let go.” Ciarra growled.
Kandori began to run up.
“Mister Reiser, you will take your hands off Miss Bellsong immediately.” Rian told Richard as she appeared mysteriously.
“Of course, Miss Vice President.” Richard let go and walked away.

As Ciarra rubbed her wrist, she saw Rian smack Kandori across the head.
“You! Getting into more fights?” Rian jabbed a finger at him.
Ciarra chuckled at Kandori.
“You laugh? You want a smack too?” Rian threatened Ciarra.
“No Miss Vice President. I’m very sorry Miss Vice President!” Ciarra backed away from the angry girl.
---

Because it was the weekend and the Cherry Blossom festival was coming up, Ciarra didn’t have classes. She gave Jessie a call but there was no answer. Carmen and Kandori were both busy preparing for the cherry blossom festival so Ciarra sat at home and brewed in boredom. Only after checking the fridge did she decide to do something, buy food for dinner.
“Honestly, all those guys do is work and study.” She grumbled to herself as she entered the grocery store. She continued to complain to herself as she flipped through beauty magazines and compared the prices on cans of corn.
“I’ll take this.” She told the cashier as she put her items on the counter.
After paying the total amount, Ciarra looked up and saw Matthew playing in the arcade.
“Yo, what you doing? Oh! Hey, what ARE you doing?” Ciarra shouted as she saw what machine he was playing on. It was Pocket Monster Fighter, Ciarra’s favorite game. “Hey, you mind if I join?”
Matthew shrugged.
Quickly dropping in a coin, she began to play against him.
“You’re pretty good.” Matthew said as he jerked his controller back and forth.
“Heck yeah! I’m the top scorer on this machine.” Ciarra tapped the buttons in rapid sequence.
“You’re ‘Tolls4D’?” Matthew asked, never taking his eyes off the screen.
“Yeah, that’s me. Holy crap, did you just roll-cancel into a level 5 super? That’s impossible!” Ciarra started to shake her controller and pound the buttons.
“Sorry. You were number top scorer.” The screen went white and the machine announced “Player 1 wins”.
“my… high score.” Ciarra mumbled.
“Come on, I’ll buy you a consolation drink.” Matthew grinned. Ciarra had never seen Matthew smile but at the moment she didn’t like it.
“I want steak, jerk!” She pouted.

“So, your family owns the Morning Son hotel?” Ciarra asked while sipping her green tea.
“Yeah. It’s been in my family for generations.” Matthew gulped his energy drink.
“Hey! That means you’re rich. Why do you go to our school…?” Ciarra began to ask.
“Ciarra-chan! I love you!” Ciarra was almost knocked over by Carmen as she hugged her best friend.
“Carmen, you scared me. Hey, have you been drinking?” Ciarra could smell it on Carmen’s breath.
“A teensy bit.” Carmen giggled.
Carmen squinted at Matthew, “Hey! You, don’t you be… be hitting on my girlfriend. Sherah-chan, she’s my woman. You dirtbag…” Carmen swung wildly at Matthew and almost fell over if Ciarra didn’t catch her.
“Ciarra-chan, I’m sorry.” Carmen began to sob.
“Come on idiot, let’s go home.” Ciarra said. As she shifted to support Carmen’s weight, she was alarmed by how light her best friend was.
“No, listen. Ciarra, I have a confession to make.” Carmen unsteadily got to her feet and looked Ciarra in the eyes. She opened her mouth and proceeded to vomit on Ciarra’s shoes and pants.

They finally got Carmen to her home and Ciarra showed Matthew where Carmen’s room was so he could place her on her bed.
“Won’t Carmen’s parents freak?” Matthew asked concerned.
“She lives alone. Her parents are divorced and Carmen and her dad’s new wife don’t get along. He sends her money every month though. Maybe that’s why she and I get along so well. With my mom always away, teaching her college classes, I practically live alone too. Anyway, I’m gonna get changed.” Ciarra picked up some clothes she grabbed from Carmen’s closet and went into the bathroom.
As Matthew sat in the living room, Carmen walked out of her room.
“Hey, you should be lying down.” Matthew called out to her.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. Gee, you sure are cute, Jessie.” Carmen walked up to Matthew and looked him straight in the eyes. “Jessie, I love you.” Carmen wrapped her arms around Matthew’s neck and kissed him. They both fell to the ground.
“Ah! Carmen-san! What are you doing?” Matthew turned to cushion Carmen. She had fallen asleep again. For the second time, Matthew dragged her to her bed. Just in case, he grabbed the small trash bin and put it next to her bed.
Looking around, Matthew noticed that her room was filled with trophies and plaques from cheerleading, gymnastics, debate team, and other activities. He picked up a small picture frame from on top of her desk. It was a picture of a young Carmen and her mother and father, they were all smiling. Putting the picture back, Matthew noticed something in a half open drawer. It was tissues with drops of blood on them. As he considered opening the drawer wider, Ciarra walked in.
“Oh, there you are. How’s the princess? She do anything?” Ciarra asked.
“What! No… um, it’s getting late. Can I walk you home?” Matthew asked flustered.
“I’m going to stay with her, thanks for everything though.” Ciarra smiled.
“Okay, I’m leaving then, see you Monday.” Matthew waved as he left.

Ciarra put the wet cloth on Carmen’s forehead.
“Geez, Why’d you drink so much?” Ciarra chuckled as she went back to the kitchen.
She came back with a bowl of soup and some water on a tray.
As Ciarra put the tray on Carmen’s desk, she too noticed the bloody tissues. Opening the drawer completely, she took out the tissues and a exacto knife. She dropped the tissues and knife on the table and quickly checked Carmen’s wrists, she saw no scars. Sighing in relief, she grabbed the tissues and knife and was about to put it back when something else caught her eye. She pulled out some pictures that were in the drawer too. Ciarra gasped as she saw that the pictures were of Ciarra, Jessie and Carmen, however, all of Ciarra’s faces were scratched out. Thinking about it, she gently put all the items back into the drawer and closed it.
---

Carmen felt like someone had smashed her in the head with a hammer. A big big hammer. She jerked up as she heard someone in her shower.
“Oh crud, who did I bring home now?” Carmen pulled the covers over her head, she realized to much relief that she was still wearing her clothes from yesterday.
Ciarra came out of the shower.
“You’re up? Good, why don’t you shower while I get some breakfast ready?”

As Ciarra flipped the eggs, she wondered “Should I ask her about the tissues and pictures?”
“Hey, the eggs are burning.” Carmen came out of the shower wearing only a towel.
Ciarra frantically pulled the frying pan off the stove and looked at Carmen sheepishly. She almost dropped the frying pan as she saw that Carmen had red and purple scars on her inner thighs where the towel didn’t reach.
“Hey, um Carmen. What are you wearing to the Cherry blossom festival tomorrow?” Ciarra asked as she dumped the eggs onto plates.
“Dunno, maybe the long red dress or those black pants, I haven’t worn those for a while.” Carmen called out from her room.
“What? Not a yukata?” Ciarra grabbed the juice from Carmen’s fridge, Ciarra wondered how Carmen could live on just water and celery because that was all she had in there. Ciarra had to go and buy the eggs, bread and juice that morning.
“Yukata? That’s so tacky. I haven’t worn a Yukata since my parents got divorced.” Carmen said as she came out of her room.
“That’s it! We are going Yukata shopping today!” Ciarra shouted.

They had stopped for iced coffee when Ciarra got a phone call.
“Hey baka, what’s up?” Ciarra answered her phone.
“How many times do I have to tell you, don’t call me that.” Kandori said.
“Don’t get uppity with me, now what did you call for?” Ciarra asked.
“I’m free today. Want to do something?” kandori asked.
“I’m with Carmen at the ‘Confection shop’, come by. Wait, is Rian-sempai going to be alright with you hanging out with us girls?” Ciarra teased.
“Yeah, Rian-sempai totally trusts me. Right sempai?” Kandori said to someone away from the phone.
“Kandori! Is Rian-sempai over there right now?” Ciarra asked incredulously.
“Yeah, but she’s going to do some stuff with her family later today so, I’ll meet you guys at the ‘Confection shop’ in… 10 minutes? Ack! Rian-chan, what are you? Don’t, no, you’re going to rip my shirt! Hey, you better make that 20 minutes.” Kandori hung up.
“Kandori is coming by…” Ciarra said glaring at her phone.
Carmen laughed to herself as she had heard everything and watched Ciarra’s face blush.
---

The next day was Monday but because of the Cherry Blossom festival, school was only for half the day.
Although Ciarra was in a foul mood that morning, she brightened up when someone covered her eyes from behind.
“I’m back, missed you.” Jessie kissed Rian’s neck.
“So, did you think about what we talked about?” Jessie asked Ciarra as he turned her around to face him.
“Yeah and I have a confession…” Ciarra frowned as she looked into Jessie’s dark eyes.
“I really do care for you but I don’t think we should…” Ciarra couldn’t say it but then she saw Carmen standing at the other end of the hallway.
“I mean, I love you, Jessie. Sorry about that.” Ciarra kissed Jessie and when she looked again, Carmen had disappeared.
“Great! I’ll be over running the Udon shop with the Judo club.” Jessie smiled and gave Ciarra a peck again.
“Can you get away for lunch?” Ciarra smiled.
“Sure, we can look around together. See you then.” Jessie hugged Ciarra and watched as she left.
“Sure we can look around together… kissy kissy.” Kandori fell on Jessie’s back.
“Yo.” Jessie looked back at his best friend, then pushed him back as some blushing girls were looking at the two and whispering.
“Hey, your grandpa doing alright?” kandori asked.
“Yeah, stubborn old man still talking about arranged marriages.” Jessie shook his head.
“What about Ciarra?” Kandori asked.
“My point exactly, old man won’t listen though. How’s it going with Rian-sempai?” Jessie smiled.
Kandori blew out a breath of frustration. “She won’t talk to me today! Ah! Why are girl’s so complicated?”

Ciarra walked with a mixture of emotions. “Why did I tell him I love him when I don’t even know…?” She looked up and saw that Richard and two of his lackeys had surrounded Matthew. She ran up as the two boys grabbed Matthew’s arms. She pushed Richard and yelled “what are you doing? Get away from him!”
Richard lifted the bat he had in his hand and poked Ciarra with it. He pretended like he was going to swing at her and Ciarra stumbled backwards, scrapping her knee.
She looked up to see that one of Richard’s goons was on the ground holding his arm at an unnatural angle. Matthew had grabbed the other boy when Richard hit him with the bat. Angrily tossing the boy into a wall, Matthew turned to Richard. Ciarra’s voice died in her throat as Richard faked a swing then swung at Matthew’s head. Matthew ran up, ducked the blow, and spun to kick Richard in the face. Richard’s head snapped to the side and he skidded to a stop on the ground.
“Ciarra-san, are you alright?” Matthew ran up to Ciarra, who stared at Richard’s shallow breathing unconscious body.
“Yeah. I just cut my knee. Where did you learn to do that?” Ciarra asked wide eyed.
“Roll cancel, level 5 super. Right?” Matthew chuckled as he pulled out a handkerchief and tied it around Ciarra’s scraped knee.
“Can you walk to the nurse’s office?” he asked as he helped support Ciarra to stand.
Red faced, Ciarra nodded as she leaned on Matthew.

Kandori ran up when he saw Ciarra limping down the hall with Matthew.
“Ciarra-chan? What happened?” kandori asked.
“It’s my fault, she was trying to help.” Matthew tried to explain.
“Yeah, well stay away from my girl, uh friend.” Kandori pulled Ciarra towards him.
“Whatever.” Matthew walked away.
“Kandori, he didn’t do anything wrong.” Ciarra said as she continued to limp towards the nurse’s office.
Kandori looked at her and said “You know, you sure are indecisive”.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ciarra frowned at him.
“Never mind. Let’s go before you bleed to death.” Kandori continued to support her as they walked.

Matthew looked up from the manga he was reading.
“Hey, here’s your handkerchief. I washed it. Thank you for before.” Ciarra offered the cloth back.
“Shouldn’t you go before your boyfriend gets pissed again?” Matthew shoved the handkerchief back in his pocket.
“Kandori-chan isn’t my boyfriend.” Ciarra said.
Matthew shrugged, which annoyed Ciarra even more. She snatched the manga out of his hands. “What are you reading? Oh. Rabu rabu Hinata, I love this series. Wow, I didn’t know you read Shojo manga. You always looked so angry or serious.”
“Read it? I’m the creator.” Matthew accepted the book back and showed Ciarra some sheets of paper.
“Is that volume 13? Give it to me!” Ciarra reached out.
“Ha ha, no way. It’s top secret.” Matthew put the papers back.
“Akuma Sensei, here is your yakisoba.” A young man dropped off the food and walked away.
“No wai! You really are Akuma! That’s so cool!” Ciarra shouted.
“Yes, it’s my pen name. I couldn’t very well use Damon, my last name. So I used the Japanese translation of Demon, Akuma.” Matthew explained.
You’re last name is Damon? Matt… Damon? Pfft.” Ciarra laughed.
“Okay okay, geez. That’s why I don’t hang out with you people.” Matthew pouted.
“Oh! You should, we’re lotsa fun. Carmen, Kandori, Jessie and I. Oh crap! I was supposed to meet them! See ya.” Ciarra ran/limped away.

“Wow, this fits differently than yesterday.” Carmen said as she came out of the latrine.
“It looks fine.” Ciarra chuckled.
“It feels so tight although I’m not even wearing underwear.” Carmen said and two passing boys walked into a wall.
“Geez.” Ciarra groaned.

As they walked back, Kandori said “Wow Carmen, you look beautiful like wow!”
Rian smacked him on the head.
“Uh, you look cute too, Ciarra-chan. Hey goldfish, isn’t that the one you wore two springs ago?”
Rian smacked him again.
“Ciarra, you look gorgeous.” Jessie gave Ciarra a kiss on the cheek.
“You’re not so bad yourself.” Ciarra smiled.
“AAH! What is you peoples' issue with keeping that at home? Let’s go already!” Carmen yelled out as she hooked arms between Kandori and Ciarra.

The five friends walked on top of fallen cherry blossoms as they went to the school festival.