It was a blissful afternoon like no other. The birds were singing and the sky was a marvelous hue of blue with no clouds in sight. All around, chattering could be heard as students meet up with friends or club members. Indeed, nothing could ever ruin the peaceful moment. Except a young man with black hair and black eyes who stood at the front gate…with a scowl.

Darwin sighed. Looking up at the sky he questioned the gods on his beautiful luck.

Ryo Shou. His co-worker and friend. They didn't go to the same high school, but thanks to their job, they managed to become best friends. He was a nice fellow. He was always polite and didn't talk much. He wasn't the type to go out and party. He was more the stay home and read type of person. Though he does hang out with friends, but he had many times stated that he does better in a small group outing than a big group outing.

Darwin walked up to him, wondering what could be causing his foul mood. But before he could say anything, Ryo looked up at him and simply stated, "We need to talk." And then turned and started to walk away.

Darwin sighed and looked up at the sky, questioning the gods once more before following after his dear friend.

Ryo and Darwin were sitting in the employee room. It would be a while before their shifted started. Enough time to talk.

"So my dear friend, what has you in such a foul mood?" Darwin asked while smiling.

"That stupid purple giant."

"Of course, why didn't I realize that sooner?"

Darwin honestly couldn't understand what made Ryo angry. Murasakibara had done nothing to him what-so-ever. Yet, here he was, complaining.

"Come on Darwin! How can you trust him so easily?!"

"Well, he hasn't done anything for me to question him."

"He's always hanging around Aiyanna!"

"So, what does that have to do with anything?"

"It has to do with everything!"

Ryo was getting frustrated. How could he not worry?

"Ryo, I understand you worry about Aiyanna, but you can't just keep her away from people. She needs to interact with others too."

"I know! It's just…I'm worried Darwin."

"Worried about what?"

"You know…what if the past repeats itself?"

Darwin's eyes widened. After fully registering what he had said, he glared at Ryo.

"Ryo, listen. The past is the past. Let it be. It won't happen again. Understand?" Darwin's eyes were full of anger. "We won't let it happen again." And with that he got up and left.

Ryo stared at his retrieving form before sighing.

"I hope you are right."

Aiyanna found herself once more in the gym watching the basketball club members play. Why? Simple, Tatsuya had kidnapped (found) her on her way home and dragged (invited) her to watch them play. Though he smiled at her, she couldn't help but feel a shiver pass through her every time she crossed paths with him. She knew he wasn't a bad person, but she still didn't fully trust him. Especially not after what Murasakibara told her.

Saturday had finally rolled in. Once Monday came she would resume her afterschool cleaning duties. According to Hachiro, if she passed one test with a hundred percent, her cleaning duty would be reduced to three days. If she passed three tests with a hundred percent, she would be set free. She didn't know what it would take Murasakibara to be freed, but she had a feeling that it had to do with his snacks. She also had a feeling he would be at it for a while. A long while.

The team where in good spirits these past days. They had managed to pass all their games so far. Aiyanna couldn't help but smile as she saw the members trying their best with smiles on their faces even though it was just practice. If this was how they acted now, she wondered how they were during real matches.

Murasakibara was on the court. He seemed to be focused. He had his hair pulled into a low ponytail. Every time that Aiyanna looked at him, she couldn't help but blush a bit. When she looked over at him once more, he looked at her too. As fast as she could she turned her gaze to another member that was just walking in…late. Her eyes widened as she realized who he was. And then he turned her way. His eyes widened as well as his mind started to put pieces together. He recognized her. Aiyanna's heart stopped as she realized that he still remembered.

"YOU!" They both screamed at each other, gaining the whole court's attention. Aiyanna's face flushed madly. Looking around she realized that everyone was watching her, even Tatsuya. Even Murasakibara. As their eyes locked, she paled. His purple eyes drilled into hers as if asking for an explanation. She couldn't take it. So she did the most logical thing that she could think of. She ran.

Hachiro was sporting a waist apron. Reason? Since he didn't have anything to do, he had decided to come and help out Ryo and Darwin. Plus he wanted to hang out with Aiyanna a bit. It had been a while. It was a slow day, not much to do. Though it would get busy at random times. Now he was talking to Ryo about the trouble he would encounter and have to deal with as Student Council President. His talk was interrupted by the chime of the doorbell, signaling that someone had come in. Standing in the doorway was a very out of breath Aiyanna.

"A-Ai-chan…are you okay?" Hachiro was shocked. He had never seen her like that.

"I….I…r-ran….here…." She was panting heavily.

"Why did you run?" Darwin asked her as he handed her a glass of water.

Aiyanna drank the whole glass in one go before she responded. "I hate basketball players."

"What?!" All three boys asked in union.

Aiyanna just shook her head as she headed towards the employee room. "I'm going to go get ready."

The boys just stared at her in confusion as she disappeared into the room. They all looked at one another in silence. What had they done to get stuck with a girl like her? They were interrupted once more by the chime of the doorbell as a costumer walked in. Deciding to leave the interrogation until later, they got back to work with attending the coming costumers.

Aiyanna was putting some new cupcakes on display when the doorbell rang. She looked up to see three high school boys walk up to her. There was one with short brown hair. He seemed to be the smallest. Next was another boy with semi-long black hair and piercings. The tallest had long blond hair that was slid back with a hairband and three piercings in each ear. They smiled and greeted her as they looked at what was on display.

"They all look very delicious." The tallest one said.

"Thank you!" Aiyana smiled brightly at them. "I made them myself. Well, some of them at least."

The three boys looked at one another before smiling back at her. "Well, we would like three strawberry fudge cupcakes please." The tallest one said.

"Sure!" She said as she started to gather what they asked. After paying they all said their goodbyes and left.

Time passed on with nothing else happening. When it came down to closing time, the boys told her to leave it all to them.

"Well, I'm going to the store on the next block okay? I need to buy some stuff."

"Okay, I'll meet you there in a bit." Hachiro told her.

After purchasing some ingredients for baking, she headed outside to wait for Hachiro. As she waited she heard a whistle from behind her. Turning she saw that it was the three high schoolers from before.

"Hello there! Didn't think we'd bump into you again." The blond one told her. "What are you doing here?"

"I just came to buy some supplies."

"I see…" the teenager looked around only to see that she was alone. "Hey, why don't you join us for a bit? We could go somewhere to have some fun."

"Oh, no that's okay. I'm waiting for someone actually."

"Come on, it'll be fun." The brown haired teen decided to speak up. "Just tell your friend that there was a change of plans."

"A change of what?" All three boys turned to the source of the voice only to see an angry boy of about their age staring them down.

"Hachi-chan! What took you so long?" Aiyanna asked, oblivious to the tension between the three teenagers and Hachiro.

"I bumped into someone on the way here." He said without looking away from the boys.

"Someone?" It was then that Aiyanna saw the two tall teens behind Hachiro. Tatsuya smiled at her as he stood next to Murasakibara.

"Hello Sango-san. We had decided to visit, but apparently you guys had already closed. Sorry."

Aiyanna was shocked as she stared at the two tall teens. All she could do was slowly nod as she turned back to the three high schoolers in front of her.

"What is it that you were saying earlier?" Aiyanna flinched a bit at Hachiro's tone.

Why does he sound so angry?

"Well…" the tall blonde male who seemed to be the leader of the group spoke up once more. "We had just invited her out for some fun since we saw that she was all alone."

"But didn't Sango-san say she was waiting for someone?" Tatsuya interjected.

"What does it matter to you anyways?!" This time it was the black haired boy that decided to speak up. He looked irritated. "She can hang out with whoever she wants. So why don't you all just go back from where you came from and let her come with us. After all, she'll have way more fun with us. "He smirked at them.

Aiyanna's eyes widened as it finally dawned on her. These boys were trouble.

"Thanks for your invitation, but I'll have to decline." She said as she slowly tried to step and hide behind Hachiro.

Without warning, one of the boys grabbed on to her hand tightly. No matter how much she tried to pry it off, she couldn't.

"Come on, just give it a try." The boy said.

Hachiro slammed the boys hand away as he glared at him. He grabbed Aiyanna's hand and pushed her behind him. Tatsuya moved and motioned her to stay close behind him. He didn't like the three high school teens in front of them at all.

Before the teens could protest, they felt a shiver run down their spine and a tall figure loomed over them.

"Leave…or I'll crush you." Murasakibara glared at them.

Without another word, they ran off. Aiyanna sighed. Thank god it was over. Or so she thought.

"You need to be more careful Aiyanna!" Hachiro turned on her. "What if we hadn't come in time!?"

"…I'm sorry…I didn't know…" How could she had known they were bad news? Hachiro had all the right to be mad, she knew that much. But she wasn't at fault either. All she had done was buy some supplies at the store. That was all.

All of a sudden she felt a large hand on her head. Looking up in fear she saw that is was only Murasakibara. He stared at her with a soft look in his eyes as he patted her head.

Tatsuya smiled as he looked at the two before turning to a still slightly fuming Hachiro. "Well, it's not like it was her fault Hasaki-san."

"I know…it's just that she always has me worrying one way or another!" He sighed. "You can't leave the idiot alone!"

"Hey! I heard that!" She glared at him.

"Good! Why don't you learn your lesson already?!"

Tatsuya just laughed at their interaction. After a few minutes more of arguing they decided to head home. Surprisingly for Aiyanna all three males decided to walk her home. Throughout the whole walk home, Murasakibara took it upon himself to feed Aiyanna. Something that surprised Tatsuya a lot. Apparently the giant wasn't fond of sharing his sweets. By the time she arrived home, she was beyond tired. Sleep claimed her right away.

So, here is chapter 9. I feel a little iffy with this chapter, but oh well. Hopefully you like it. BTW for those who may have been confused, the words in the parenthesis are actually what happened. Aiyanna just has a weird imagination.

Please review if you can/wish.

Supix signing off|