WOOPEEE!!!! I'm back! Here's Part Two For you! Thanks so much for waiting. Keep on reading, keep on reviewing, and I'll keep on writing.

Part Two: Junior High

One

Tokyo was waking up. Cars were starting to fill the streets, and people made their way to their schools, and places of work. If one would look up, he would see clear blue skies beyond the tall buildings of the city.

In one of the not-so-tall buildings in a ward called Nerima, a boy was preparing to go to school.

The blue curtains billowed slightly as the wind blew through the open window, bringing a nice cool breeze into the room. It was the first day of junior high. And it found Rei absently humming a tune as he buttoned up his uniform. When he finished, he looked at his reflection again, and smiled, then froze as realization struck: he had been in the "I'm so happy with life" mood the moment he woke up.

"Scary..." he muttered.

He was in their new apartment in a new ward. He had new uniforms, and he was on his way to his new school. There were new places to go and new people to meet. He felt as if he was starting over with a clean slate.

"G'morning, Mom," he greeted his mother as he sat down at the table.

"Good morning. Ready for school?"

"Not quite yet. I'm ready for breakfast, though!"

Yokaze Miki narrowed her eyes. "Well, look who's in a good mood.."

"I DID say, 'Good morning', didn't I?"

"Ah, right, right," Miki agreed. "Well, eat up, now. Your brother should be here any moment."

True enough, Kano came a couple of minutes later. His arrival was, as usual, heralded by his running footsteps. Upon seeing Rei, his eyes lit up and he ran straight for his brother.

"Oof!"

"Ohayo, Oniichan!"

"Ohayo, Kano."

"Nee, nee, Oniichan, are you in a good mood, Oniichan?"

"You could say that," he replied, smiling.

"Is that why you were humming earlier?"

Rei's smile faded ever-so-slightly. "You heard that?"

"Is it because you're going to school again, Oniichan?"

Rei had been quite used to Kano asking odd questions, since he was just a kid. But this time Rei's eyebrows furrowed as his smile faded completely. "What made you think that?"

"Is it because you're going to see Midori-oneechan again, Oniichan?"

Rei blinked.

He realized that that hadn't crossed his mind. But now that Kano mentioned it he couldn't help but wonder, what were the odds that he would see Midori? And what would he do when that happens? Was he going to ignore her as he did before? Throw an insult? A joke? Or act normal? Whatever 'normal' was.

Rei shook his head. She was probably at Minato Shougakkou, or somewhere else very far away, completely enjoying herself since Yokaze Rei, Yukibana Midori's bane, was already nowhere in sight.

"And what made you think that?" he asked again, lifting his glass to drink.

"Is she your girlfriend, Oniichan?"

Rei promptly choked, successfully spraying orange juice on the table. Good thing he had reflexes fast enough to turn his head away from Kano. That would've been much grosser than it already was.

"Oh for goodness' sake, Rei," Miki scolded him. "Please be careful, we have a white tablecloth if you haven't noticed."

But to Rei, the tablecloth wasn't exactly the most important thing at the moment.

"Guh-- WHAT?!" he exclaimed, practically standing up.

"Is she, Oniichan?"

"A--- Who told you that?!"

That moment, the boy whom Rei dearly calls his "parents' other son" sauntered into the room.

"Ohayo gozaimasu," he said calmly. He took the seat across Rei and served himself some breakfast.

"Tokiya-oniisan, Oniichan said Midori-oneechan wasn't his girlfriend."

Of course, Rei thought as he mentally smacked his forehead. Need I ask?

"Yes, I know, dear sibling," Tokiya replied, "but he wishes that it was so."

"..."

"Do you, Oniichan?"

"Kano, stop asking silly questions."

"It's just a 'yes' or 'no', Rei, why don't you answer him?"

"Tokiya, I'm going to strangle you."

"Rei, don't say such things in front of Kano."

The banter between the three siblings abruptly stopped. Tokiya smiled triumphantly, Kano looked back and forth his older brothers, and Rei resigned to his seat.

"Yes, Mom..."

---

"Rei, can I speak to you for a moment?"

The hazelnut-haired boy looked up from his shoes to see his mother holding his bento.

"Sure, Mom, what's up?"

"You very well know what's up. Although it's nothing new, it's still up."

Rei just blinked.

"Rei," she started again, speaking as carefully as she could, "can't you try to respect and be nice to your brother? You know you care about him, too."

"But...I DO respect and I AM nice to him, Mom. Do I look like I don't care about Kano?"

"Rei. Don't start. You KNOW I was talking about Tokiya." Miki replied, her face stern. "If it's not intense quarrels, it's strange strained silence."

"Yeah, well, that's how it is and there's nothing I can do about it. It would've been so much better if he didn't move in with us."

"You keep forgetting that the reason we moved to Nerima at all is for Tokiya to have a home with us again. And it doesn't always have to be like that every time you and Tokiya are in the same room together, you know. You're brothers, Rei!"

"Biologically, yes." When his mother's eyebrows arched, Rei tried to elaborate.

"Mom, everyone knows we're mortal enemies! I just can't help it!"

Miki just couldn't suppress a sigh. "Can't you try? You can start by calling him 'Oniisan' for once."

"I just don't think I can get along with him if he doesn't stop attacking me."

"Excuse me...Attacking?!"

"He gloats at me about everything!"

"Like what?"

"Like...That he's three years older than me so I should submit to his bidding. That he's already in his second year in high school, which makes him one year advanced, yet he's always at the top of his class, which makes me look like an idiot since I'm not so lucky at academics. He's an absolute gentleman to everyone excluding me. In short, he's the perfectly perfect guy. And he rubs it in my face! Teasing is one thing, but what he does is MOCKING me. Especially by calling me 'dear brother'. Geez..."

"How he gets away with ruining my life while looking innocent is beyond me." Rei added under his breath, but Miki heard it anyway.

"But he IS your brother, Rei. And he doesn't look innocent. Honey, I don't have favorites, OK? If you think you're the only one I reprimand, you've got it wrong."

It was Rei's turn to sigh. "I just don't see why I should try anymore. I hate him and he hates me. What's the use?"

Silence fell for a few moments, until Miki spoke with a hushed voice, but loud enough for Rei to hear.

"It's been said that if the opinion of a person affects you, that means you care about that person."

"Yeah, so?" Rei's eyebrows knitted together at the sudden change of topic.

"Tell me, do Tokiya's opinions affect you?"

Miki watched in slight amusement as Rei blinked, paled, then stammered.

"Th---That's--- Aw, GEEZ! That's twisted logic, Mom."

"Do they?" she repeated.

"Mom, they're stupid ideas picked out of nowhere!" Rei continued, not quite answering the question.

"Do they?" she repeated again.

This time, Rei didn't answer at all.

~~~

Rei pedaled to school with the morning's conversation in mind.

"It's been said that if the opinion of a person affects you, that means you care about that person."

"Tell me, do Tokiya's opinions affect you?"

Yeah, right, Mom, he thought irritably. Like I care about that idiot's stupid opinions. Where'd he get that, anyway? He barely even knows Midori! He never even met her! Why'd he think that I want her to be my girlfriend? Stupid Tokiya.

First of all, Rei started counting, not noticing that his pedaling was slowly accelerating, I'm just 13. Having a girlfriend is nowhere in my priority list. Secondly, Midori is feisty, tough, oversensitive, emotional, and gullible. She's practically a schizophrenic. One minute you'd think she's perfectly nice and approachable, the next minute she's breathing down your throat. And thirdly---

"YAAAA!!!"

"GAH!!!"

*SCREEECH!!!*

Time stopped, everything went mute, and the world spinned.

Rei opened his one eye, and when he was sure that the world wasn't spinning anymore, he let go of his breath. Then, he blinked as he saw the dark tire marks on the ground. Those marks told Rei that his bicycle did a tailspin when he had hit the brakes.

Man, he thought. If I hadn't stepped my foot down on the pavement, I would've kissed the ground. Ouch. I should've paid more att---

He inwardly groaned. That settled it. Tokiya is officially 'The One Who Ruins Rei's Life'.

Then, feeling eyes on himself, he looked up to see a girl with long blue-black hair. He glanced down at the tire marks again, then gulped. He had practically run her over. He opened his mouth to apologize, but the girl beat him to it.

"Hey, watch the road when you're going so fast! This is a school zone if you haven't noticed."

Rei barely held back to urge to roll his eyes.

Just great. Another feisty female.

"What's the rush, anyway? It's not like you're late yet," she continued, her dark grey eyes glaring at him.

"Cool it, Aiko," a new voice spoke. It was then that Rei noticed that a black-haired guy had been beside the girl the whole time. "You all right?" the black-haired boy asked, nodding at him.

"Yeah," Rei replied, dismounting his bike. And then to the girl, "Sorry." Even if she snapped at him, the girl still deserved an apology. The angry look on her face faded.

"It's OK...But really, you should watch where you're going. Better yet, don't go that fast. You could've gotten hurt."

Rei was taken aback. "You could've gotten hurt"? "YOU"?

"That was quite a skid, man!" the other boy said, smiling. "That was practically a 360 degree turn! Quick thinking to turn away from Aiko, too."

The girl nodded. "Quick reflexes, indeed."

The black-haired guy offered his hand. "Toriyama Kamui."

"Yokaze Rei," the stunned boy replied, snapping out of his stupor, and taking Kamui's hand.

"Aiko-sa~n!"

The three turned to see a few girls running towards them. Rei saw that they were already almost at the school.

"Ohayo."

"We checked the class lists, and, guess what?"

"What?"

"You're in a different class from ours," one of the girls pouted.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, you and Kamui-kun are in the same class, though."

"Aw, man... Again?!"

"HEY!" Kamui objected. The blue-haired girl just stuck her tongue out at him.

"C'mon, the other girls are inside already," another one of the girls said.

"Go ahead, Aiko, we'll catch up," Kamui told her.

With an apologetic glance at Rei, she followed the group inside the school.

Kamui sighed. "So Aiko's gonna be in my class, huh?" he said to no one in particular.

"Is that a common thing?" Rei asked. The other boy looked at him, then smiled.

"Something like that. We've known each other since birth. Literally," Kamui replied. "So... You're new here at Nerima, aren't you?"

"Yeah... Obvious, huh?"

"Not in a bad way. It's just, almost everyone knows Kazetenshi Aiko. She was fairly prominent in elementary school. You know, nice grades, people person and all that. She's got a name in the ward's sports culture, too. And you look like an athletic guy, so I thought, if you were athletic and you didn't know Aiko, then you must be new or something. Unless your sport is something like chess..."

"Nah. I'm no professional, but I'm in the track team."

"Cool. I was on the soccer team."

Rei smiled. Looks like his day was starting to get better again.

Kamui glanced at his watch. "Hey, it's still early. Wanna see the school grounds?"

~~~

Midori had enjoyed her vacation a lot. They went to her grandfather's house in Hokkaido, and took a nature trip. Atsuko had said that they all needed to unwind their brains and relax for a while. And that was exactly what Midori did. She didn't want the vacation to end.

But now... Midori somehow regretted staying so long there. She didn't have time to go around their new neighborhood and meet people. She wasn't able to go around the grounds of her new school, either. Kobayakawa Junior High School. They picked this school because it was near their house, plus it was separated from Kobayakawa High just by a fence. So if it was time for her to go to high school, she won't have to get adjusted all over again. Like what she was trying to do right now.

Midori bit her lip as she looked around the classroom. It was depressing enough that she went to school alone, knowing she knew no one there. Now she was seeing what she knew.

"It's really too bad..."

Midori looked up from staring at her hands as a loud voice came from just outside the classroom. There were around 8 girls there, and they were all looking at a certain girl in a way that Midori thought was something like hero-worship.

"Yeah... See you around, then, right?" the girl said.

Midori noticed that some of the other students in the classroom were paying attention to the same scene she was watching. She guessed that this girl might be THE popular girl or something, though she didn't look snobbish at all. Honestly, she seemed to be generously entertaining the other girls even if she didn't want to.

When the group of girls were gone, the Popular Girl turned to walk inside the classroom. She scanned the room for a moment, then saw Midori. The emerald-eyed girl blinked, wondering why the other girl smiled as the latter went to sit beside her.

"Hao!" the Popular Girl greeted her with a wide smile.

"Hi..."

"I'm Kazetenshi Aiko." The smile on the girl's face never disappeared.

"Yukibana Midori."

Well, she looks pretty harmless, Midori thought.

"Oh," Aiko suddenly said, making a motion to stand up, "you're not saving this seat for anyone, right?"

"Nope."

"OK," Aiko sat back down again. "So...are you new in town?"

I swear, she has telepathy, Midori thought, surprised. That or I looked too much of a newcomer.

"Yes."

"Oh. Well, it doesn't really matter whether or not you're new here. I mean, this is first year junior high. EVERYBODY's new."

"That makes sense."

"So, wanna go around and take a tour around the campus together after school? I mean, if you'd like..."

Midori nodded. "Why not?"

"By the way, call me Aiko, OK?"

"What else would I call you?"

Aiko shrugged. "I dunno, Aiko-san, maybe. But don't."

"How about Aiko-sama?" Midori asked with a grin.

"I swear, if you do..." Aiko answered back, also with a grin.

"Why not? I mean, you seem to be used to being..." Midori stopped abruptly before her mouth got her into trouble again. But it was too late. The other girl's face already fell.

"A little bit too used to it." she whispered.

"I'm sorry," Midori quickly apologized. "I shouldn't have---"

"No, it's OK. I mean, you're entitled to thinking that," Aiko interrupted with a sigh. "I just wish I could have a friend, y'know?"

Midori's eyebrows furrowed.

"OK...I'm confused."

"Just because a lot of people know you and look up to you doesn't mean you have a lot of good friends. I mean, Kamui's one, but...He's...he's one."

"OK, I'm thoroughly confused."

"By the time we graduated in elementary, everyone else looked at me either like a hero or a trying hard menace to society."

"Oh... So you went to sit beside me because I wasn't from your old school, right?"

Aiko grimaced apologetically. "Guilty."

Midori smiled. "That's cool with me."

"That's good," Aiko said with relief. Then, she glanced at her watch. "The bell's gonna ring in five minutes... Where are those two?"

"Who?"

As if on cue, there was laughing outside the door, and two boys suddenly appeared on the doorway, laughing their brains out.

Midori froze.

"Boys..." Aiko muttered, shaking her head. "Oei, if the teachers catch you like that you'd be in trouble!"

Rei stopped, throwing a glance at Kamui as he did the same. Did Aiko just reprimand them for laughing?!

"Eh?" Kamui said. "Why? Is laughing illegal?"

Rei was about to agree with him when he suddenly froze. He saw Aiko sitting there, but he also saw clear, emerald eyes.

No way.

The questions he had dismissed that morning started resurfacing. Why did she have to be in his ward, going to his school, attending his class, and sitting next to his new buddy's best friend? He had been so sure he'd never see her again, but now...but now...

"No, Kamui, but if it disrupts other classes your butt gets kicked anyways," Aiko was saying.

"Yeah, yeah..." Kamui said.

Rei noticed Kamui move towards Aiko, exchanging side fives with her along the way. Obviously, he was going to sit behind her (since that was the remaining seat closest to her), so he had no choice but to go for the seat next to him (which was the last seat in the class). He considered ignoring Midori, but the moment her green eyes looked at him (his mind all the while screaming "Danger! Danger!"), he had an all-too-familiar impulse that he just couldn't resist.

Midori had been trying to pay attention to Kamui and Aiko, and not the hazelnut-haired boy staring at her from the doorway. So she mentally smacked herself for even looking at Rei when he passed because of what happened next: he stopped beside her chair.

"Long time, eh, Midori?" he said casually, but to Midori's ears, he was emphasizing her name.

THE NERVE! she seethed mentally.

"Yukibana desu," she said as calmly as she could, but to Rei's ears, she sounded cold.

He involuntarily flinched.

And his defense mechanism went up.

"Ah, yes, yes. I thoroughly apologize, Yukibana-sama," he said with an intentionally (at the same time, involuntarily) overdramatic bow.

"Yokaze, if you don't get your butt in your seat and keep quiet, I'm gonna put you there myself."

Reis jaw clenched, barely stopping himself from shouting, "It's not MY fault! I was just trying to make a conversation, and whaddya do?!" He said something else, instead, his voice surprisingly low and even.

"Try it."

"Don't dare me to."

"I just did."

THAT was the third reason why Rei didn't want her to be his girlfriend. He was admittedly scared of her...*effects* on him. Whenever she snapped at him, he could never help but snap back. It gave a new definition to the phrase "slipped out of my mouth".

As for Midori's part, that did it. It was time to shut the idiot up. Of course, laying her hands on such a filthy creature was her last resort, though IF she got fed up enough, she'd have no second thoughts of doing it. So she whipped out her ultimate weapon against Rei instead.

Her GLARE.

As Midori expected, Rei took a tiny step backwards with a "Gggk..." She noticed in the corner of her eye that Aiko was looking back and forth from her to Rei, as if trying to decode the situation, then she looked at the person seated behind her. In a second, Rei was literally PUT into his seat when Kamui shoved him there. He cleared his throat, then smiled at Midori.

"Hajimemashite. Toriyama Kamui."

"Yukibana Midori."

Rei watched Midori and Kamui exchange introductions. Feeling someone's gaze at him, he looked up to see Aiko looking at him. She looked positively bewildered at what had just happened. Well, you can't really blame her. He smiled at her awkwardly, and she smiled back.

It was then that their teacher arrived.

Rei sighed as he stared at the back of Midori's head. It was unavoidable due to his current location.

Well, buddy, tough luck, his mind told him. You saw her again, after all. And you're sitting behind her, no less!

He didn't know if he was supposed to feel happy or not.

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