Disclaimer: Hana Kimi is not mine. I am not responsible for who knows Mizuki's secret. (Except for Nakatsu.)
"You didn't eat dinner," Sano said when he heard the door to the room open and shut.
"That's okay," he heard Mizuki respond nervously. "We'll just eat a big breakfast tomorrow." There was a silence as Mizuki changed for bed.
"Hey, Ashiya?"
"Y-yeah?"
"Do you remember Kagurazaka's sister, Tamami, from this summer?" Sano could almost hear the confused look on Mizuki's face.
"What about her?"
"Well, what do you think of her?" Mizuki was silent longer than Sano wanted, so he opened the curtain that separated his bed from the rest of the room. As he expected, she was blushing, but she had a strange, almost hopeful look on her face.
"Why?"
Sano flopped back on his pillow and put his hands behind his head. "Just wanted to know your opinion, that's all."
"She was a very nice girl," Mizuki said softly. "She was fun to be with, the kind of person that would never give up on someone, even if..."
"Even if they'd already been turned down?" Sano finished.
"Sano, do you-"
Mizuki found herself in her second random embrace of the evening. Before she could say anything, Sano started talking again. "I wanted to tell you for the longest time but I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want you to think that I didn't care about you anymore or that I don't remember what you did for me." He held her at arm's length. "You got me jumping again, Mizuki. You're my best friend." Sano let go of Mizuki and went back to sit on his bed. "But I think that's all you'll ever be. I didn't know how to say anything to you. I... I want to be with Tamami. And I need your help with that, I think."
Tears of determination were running down Mizuki's face when Sano looked up again. "Why did you..." she looked like she was having a hard time talking. "It doesn't hurt me to talk about the things that you really want, Sano," Mizuki choked out.
Instead of using his patented 'boys don't cry, remember?' line, Sano stood and gave Mizuki another hug. "I know," he said quietly. "I was just afraid that if you felt more for me... but now that you have Nakatsu..."
"Sano, I'm not-" Mizuki cried, suddenly pushing him away.
Sano laughed. "It's okay," he said, retreating to his bed again. "I know."
Mizuki was through with explaining herself and through with long misunderstandings. She emitted a frustrated sigh of internal anguish as she collapsed on the floor. Her famous annoyed look was plastered across her face as she demanded, "What do you mean, 'I know'? Explain exactly what you mean."
Sano rolled over and looked her in the eye. "I've known from the beginning. Ever since the day you got the wind knocked out of you when you were playing soccer with Nakatsu." He rolled over as a blush crept across his face. "Your vest must have slipped," he mumbled.
Mizuki was silent, and Sano rolled over to look at her once he was sure his blush was gone. (If Mizuki had been in a mood to pay attention, she still would have been able to see the blush on Sano's ears, but he's cuter for thinking that he's wiley.) Her entire face and neck were red, as if her internal anguish was fighting to become external.
"Who ELSE knows?!" she yelled.
As if he had been waiting outside for a disturbance within, Nakatsu poked his head in the door. (He had been waiting outside, but it was because Kayashima had been commenting on the elated color of his aura and he hadn't yet decided how to explain.) "Everything all right in here?" he asked the fuming Mizuki.
"Is it really that obvious?" Mizuki asked loudly, and Nakatsu invited himself in.
"Shh," he soothed, and put his arms around her. She relaxed, but still glared at Sano to answer her questions. "It's not obvious," Nakatsu answered. "I had a crush on you before I knew. I didn't think I was gay, so I was relieved when I found out. You do have those girlish things you can't hide, though..." Mizuki looked up sharply at Nakatsu while both boys blushed.
"Like what?" she demanded.
"Your laugh..." Sano muttered.
"Your eyes, when you're happy," Nakatsu confessed.
"Your aura," Kayashima reported, sticking his head in the door.
All three fell over (with Sano falling off of his bed and hitting his head rather hard on the floor), and then Nakatsu and Mizuki were yelling. (Sano was still recovering.)
""How long have YOU known?""
"From the moment Ashiya burst into the classroom that day. It was the classic female 'late to class on the first day at a new school' bit, and then when Sano came in..." Mizuki and Sano were immediately engulfed in flames and Nakatsu put his arms protectively around Mizuki and glared at Sano. "Yes, it was something like that," Kayashima gestured toward Mizuki's aura."Well, why didn't you say anything?" Sano asked.
"I didn't feel it was my place to," Kayashima replied tranquilly.
"So what should we do now?" Mizuki asked the roomful of classmates who knew her secret. Just yesterday she had been in the bliss of anomnyty. Now it seemed like everyone knew.
"What do you want to do, Mizuki?" Sano asked.
"I... I want to stay here with you all..." she said quietly.
"I'll protect you, Mizuki!" Nakatsu vowed.
"Is there anyone else who knows?" Mizuki asked, exasperated.
"Well-" Sano was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"I don't know what you guys are doing in here, but it's way past lights out," Nanba said as he walked in. Kayashima kneeling near the door, Sano sitting on his bed, and Nakatsu and Mizuki cuddling in the middle of the floor all greeted their RA with blank looks. "A-are you guys having a party that you didn't invite me to?"
Sano thumbed in the direction of the confused third year and Mizuki put her head in her hands.