The Way the Heart Breaks {Harai}

[Nicolette]

Three weeks laid out between now and exams. Students were already beginning to crowd the libraries and forming study groups to prepare to study for the oncoming exams. Because of this, many of the main corridors were empty, and the smaller ones hadn't seen people in hours. It was in one of those small corridors, near the Student Freedom Force Office, that she was waiting. She had been told to meet him at five in the evening there, and the way he'd said it had made her slightly nervous.

She had changed into a long sleeved, cotton, maroon shirt and a pair of comfortable jeans with simple sneakers on her feet. Her hair was worn down and her glasses were perched upon the bridge of her nose, as usual. She leaned against the cool wall behind her, counting down the seconds until five would hit (as she always arrived early).

[Faye]

If he knew anything about the girl he was about to meet, then it was that she was already there. And he was going to be a few minutes late, he knew it. Mostly because it was ten to five by the time he had reached his dormitory and he wanted to change. However, something pinged in his heart, he didn't want to keep her waiting..

So he quickly changed into a simple pair of black jeans and a random t-shirt that he grabbed in a hurry out of his drawer. He slipped on a pair of converse and stuffed the necessities such as his phone and wallet into his various pockets. With a deep breath, he said bye to his room mate and left the dormitory.

Out in the hall, he could feel the massive temperature change, it was getting so warm now, compared to previous months where he could see his breath like a thick white fog. He entered the elevator, pressed a few buttons and awaited to be taken down to the ground floor. The elevator shaft dinged when it had finished and he stepped out into the lobby, walking quickly passed the receptionist and out into the warm, evening air.

He withdrew his phone to see the time, muttering a curse under his breath when he realised it was five passed five already. He picked up his pace and soon found himself in the corridors just outside the Student Freedom Force's office. He saw her waiting there, his breath caught in his throat, even with the circumstances and things that were going on, he couldn't help but think she was beautiful. In anything.

"Hey," He said softly, slipping into their native tongue.

[Nicolette]

Haruka Amagi's gaze rose as she looked in the direction of the male who had spoken to her. Inside, her heart was racing and she felt a little nervous and scared, but on the outside, she showed a complete and calm mask as she stood straight, looking at the male.

"Hello..."[/i] She said softly, keeping her eyes locked on him. "You said you wanted to talk to me?"

While "We need to talk" weren't the exact words he used, he'd used similar ones, which gave Haruka a sinking feeling in her stomach. What had gone wrong?

[Faye]

"I did."

He leaned against the wall, feeling the cool temperature seep in though his t-shirt. It shocked him a little before he grew used to it. He avoided eye contact with Haruka for a few brief moments as he thought about what he was going to say. How would he word it? He didn't want to hurt her, and he didn't know if he could deal with seeing her cry.

Even so, he wanted to speak to her in person, over text message, email or the phone, would only make him seem like a coward. And he wasn't one! He swallowed the lump in his throat and mustered the courage to look Haruka in the eye. "I wanted to speak with you about everything that's been happening.." He started, water threatening to fill his eyes, "About the distance between us.. you used to feel so close to me, but now.." His gaze fell, "Now.. I don't know."

[Nicolette]

Haruka was quiet for a moment, her lips pressing together in light confusion and a small bit of frustration. Distance? How distant was she acting? How could she even be close to him these days? Ever since that Miki girl arrived the previous week, he'd been busy attending to her. How was Haruka to spend time with her boyfriend, when he was too busy giving all his attention to that girl?

"I have not the faintest clue what you're talking about." She said bluntly. "I have freed up my time to spend with you countless times lately, even pushing off Freedom Force work in order to try to spend time with you... However, lately, every time we do spend some time together, that Azuma-san is always with you."

[Faye]

Her reply shocked him. How could she not know what he was talking about? He swallowed again, watching her closely as she spoke, he didn't want to interrupt her, that would only cause things to escalate and soon explode into a full blown argument.

Then, she brought Miki up. "It's not my fault I have to look after her, the school asked me too," He tried his best to keep his cool, but it wasn't working very well. "And she's not always with me, I have a play to learn lines for, it isn't like she's the centre of my life," He shook his head, looking across from him at the opposite wall.

"Why are you so jealous of her anyway? It isn't like she's a threat."

[Nicolette]

"Any girl would think of a girl who spent time with her boyfriend as a threat. Especially a girl whom her boyfriend uses '-chan' to refer to her to."

It reminded Haruka of the first time she and Rai had met. She understood that he had been a very friendly person, but she also knew he didn't do it for everyone. He called Kyerin '-san' if he had to, or didn't even use a suffix by just calling him 'Saito'. But with Miki, it was Miki-chan. With Haruka, it had always been 'Haru-chan'. Why was Miki special, too?

"I would appreciate if you didn't put all of the blame on me. You've been busier than I have, so if anyone, it'd be you who is the distant one from me." She paused, pressing her lips together and looking away. "Have I not been good to you? Have I not sacrificed time enough for you? Is what I give just not enough for you?"

She looked back at him "I told you that this relationship was going to be a little rocky on my end. I thought you accepted that when you decided to ask to be my boyfriend."

[Faye]

Rai bit his lip as she mentioned his overly friendly use of the word -chan for Miki's name. He continued to avoid eye contact with her, he had no idea that it would affect her so much. Why didn't he see this? Why was he even trying to put the blame on her? Nothing he could say would make it seem like he's the good guy in all this.

"I.. maybe..." He paused, at a loss for words, he shifted his gaze to the floor beneath their feet, nibbling on his lip as he felt anxious. What was he doing, trying to pin it all on the perfect Haruka? "Maybe we should.. take a... I don't know, I thought I could.. handle this, but you don't know how hard it is for me to not be able to hug you or even hold your hand in public," They were so different in personalities that it wasn't surprising that physical displays of affection would be one of their problems.

[Nicolette]

Haruka brought her arms to fold across her chest, more holding herself than trying to show any sort of attitude. She turned her gaze away for a moment, pressing her lips together in a tight line. Letting anger or any other emotion get to her would only cause them to begin yelling. She had to keep her cool.

"I apologize that I'm a different person than you thought me to be." She looked back up at him, her eyes swimming with everything. "Fine. If you want to take a break, or simply just break up with me, fine. I am a perfectly fine independent person. I was one before I met you, and I'm sure I can continue to be one after."

Haruka didn't mean to seem emotionless and cruel with her words... But with the pain of her heart breaking, there wasn't much else she could do or say. She could only keep her focus on not crying and not becoming angry.

[Faye]

Considering Rai was a male, he had to try extra hard to keep his emotions in check, he couldn't burst out crying in front of a girl. Especially this one. It would only be seen as weak, and he didn't want that, but all he wanted to do was break down.

Her words caused a pain to enter his chest, he glanced up at her, seeing the emotionless gaze that she always had. The one before he managed to get through her icy shell. He swallowed, of course.. of course she could continue how she used to.

"Yeah..." He went to stroke her cheek but stopped as the back of his hand was inches from her face, he simply let his hand drop to his side. "You've never needed me.." He shook his head a little and pushed himself off the wall, turning around to head back to his dormitory.

[Nicolette]

Haruka stood there in the hallway and watched the male look at her, and then simply turn away. His words pierced through her chest and she just stood there, watching him go. She stood there for a good five minutes, long enough for him to be gone, before she sunk down to her knees, staring forward at the ground in front of her. Her expression continued to remain almost emotionlessly dead, except for the tears that slipped down her cheeks.

So it happened just like that? No screaming, no argument... Just 'It's over'? She felt like her heart was going to explode in her chest, or tear straight in half.. It hurt so bad.

[Kyerin]

Kyerin was muttering to himself as he walked down the hall, his eyes facing forward, but not really focused on what was going on around him. He was too busy planning, trying to play out all possible angles. True, there was so much that could go right with the karaoke at the school festival... but still, chances for it to go wrong. Maybe there was an angle he was missing on it all, something to help keep people in and out of the way... was there?

The young man paused in his footsteps when he saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye near the SFF office. He smiled, and shifted into a more relaxed stance when he realized who it was. "Ah, Amagi, good to see you here. I was hoping to get your input on the plan. It feels too loose at the main location, and I was curious if you had any potential ideas to help keep people inside."

[Nicolette]

Haruka shook a bit and she just sat there. However, upon hearing a voice, she reacted just slightly, her body tensing up, but she continue to sit there and stare at the ground in front of her. Was all of this really happening? Had her light really just disappeared, leaving her in the perpetual darkness that came to surround her? And, oh how she hated the dark...

The dark... They'd shared their first kisses in the dark...

Suddenly, she hunched over, bringing her hands up to her face as she started to gasp a little, and within seconds, those gasps turned into full out sobs. She couldn't stop herself. Rai was gone, and he probably wouldn't be coming back. Even if it was in front of the man that she told herself she'd never cry in front of, at this point, that didn't matter.

And so, she sobbed, and she sobbed hard.

[Kyerin]

Kyerin noticed how the sitting figure didn't seem to reply to his remarks; at first he was unsure if the person really was who he thought it was. A quick check confirmed his initial assumption, so next on his checklist was that maybe she didn't hear him. He was about to repeat his question when he heard a noise from the girl. It definately wasn't words... it was... sobbing? He had never really seen her show much emotion, much less break down. Oh dear...

The young man stepped into the hallway, and crouched down next to Haruka, looking carefully at her. He slowly reached out one hand, and lightly placed it between her shoulder blades, giving her a few light pats on the back, not saying anything else. He didn't know what to say; he wasn't even sure what was going on!

[Nicolette]

Haruka sobbed for a good couple of minutes, until her throat hurt, her head hurt, and her eyes couldn't possibly spill any more tears. She soon started to slowly calm down until those horrible sobs had dissolved into pathetic sniffling, as she tore her glasses off her eyes and placed them on the floor next to her, using the sleeves of her shirt to wipe at her soaked grey eyes.

There was silence as she stared at the ground, refusing to look up for another few minutes. Then she cleared her throat and reached out to pick up her glasses, placing them back upon the bridge of her nose. She looked up and that emotionless mask was, once again, in place on her face.

"Perhaps we could implement a 'Guess That Song' game with the karaoke contest, while the competitors are choosing their song, so more people are given an opportunity to win prizes. People are more willing to stay put when there are prizes involved, and if the prizes are decent, then they'll likely stay for as long as we'd like." She slowly rose from her spot on the ground. "I could get a collection of songs together for us to use, and then go to town to see if we can get any sponsors for prizes."