'Get out of my sanctuary bright creature!"

'Not until you come and make some food, I'm hungry!'

'Well, if you're that hungry learn to cook!'

Sunako slammed the door at Kyouhei's face. He stood aghast, wondering how on earth there could be a girl with such bad temper. Ok, well, maybe he had provoked her bad mood that day. He had been teasing her since the day before, entering her room without knocking, smirking at her, watching her from the entrance of the kitchen (he could not possibly enter this room, she would really kill him), everything he knew would get her mad. He could not prevent it, at least, when she wanted to kill him, she paid attention to him. He had long realized that she was an awesome girl, how could he ignore this fact? He had noticed it the first time he had seen her fight, the first time he had seen her care for her friends, the first time he had seen her so much enjoy gore stuff. Maybe it was that thing that had impressed him the most. Everything was unique about her. Well, true, she was most of the time creepy, but it belonged to her personality. When he knew her family, it was not surprising. Her beautiful mother and aunt were just as frightening, if not more. Even so, Sunako was not the same type, she was shier in her way.

Sometimes, he thought of her as a mirror of himself. The weird obsession for gore stuff, the love for competition, the complicated relationship with beauty…. Kyouhei hated his face because nobody had wished to see beyond it and everyone had been fantasizing with him, wanted him to belong to them, without even trying to know him. Even so, his mother had rejected him because of his face, Sunako as well. Not only because of it, of course, but he knew it was an obstacle in their relationship since, for her, it reminded her of her 'ugliness'. As much as he hated his face, she hated her own face because she thought of herself as ugly. Just because an idiot had wanted to reject her and had used this argument. Since then, she would not open her eyes to the world and had been confining herself in the dark world, as she called it. When he first looked at her, it was true, she was not very beautiful. But never the term 'ugly' could have been applied to her. He, who sometimes knew her more than he knew himself, was the best judge for it. When she fought for what she thought right, when she was happy for something, when she got out of her shell, she could be stunningly beautiful.

Her awesomeness was striking, and he had just recently come to realize how much she meant to him. How? When he had thought he would lose her to this teacher who had the same fascination as her for the skeletons. He had even 'confessed', saying she was special to him, but of course, she had been completely oblivious of it. He had understood at that moment that the teasing he always did, the fights he had with her, he wanted to be the only one to do this to her. He knew that if a square-headed guy like him had realized how strikingly beautiful and impressive she was, another guy would come to realize it and snatch her away. No, he was not in love with her, do not imagine it, it was just that he admired her straightforward personality and her capacity to remain true to herself and convictions, and it was fun to see her reactions. He also liked the complicity he had with her sometimes, like a buddy, and if another guy came, he knew he would lose it. If a guy came anyway, he wanted to be sure this guy would be as great as her. So, he was always teasing her, happy to be this guy for the moment, even though he was since the day before risking his life.

'What's wrong with you? Do you have suicidal ideas?' A voice said behind him.

He started and turned around. It was Takenaga, who had just taken a bath.

'What? I'm hungry…'

'Even you are not that annoying. It is 10 PM, you don't need her to make you a sandwich, you do it yourself usually. It's been a week since you're harassing her, what did she do to deserve it?'

'Nothing, I'm just bored.'

'Don't give me that. You've come to realize you can't leave without her right?'

Takenaga had meant it as a joke, but when he saw his friend's face, he understood and dragged him in the living room.

'So', he said at last, 'did you finally realize you loved her?'

'Nothing like that, sorry to disappoint you. It's just she's fun to tease.'

'And…?'

'And nothing. Even though I was in love with her – which I am not – it would not change our relationship. Apart from the fact she would kill me of course. I was just thinking about that guy…'

'The teacher?'

'No, the one who said she was ugly. How come she could be so traumatized by such a futile word? I mean, there must be something more into it right? Why can't she believe us when we say she's not ugly? It's weird.'

'Who knows? She IS weird, so it's not surprising her way of thinking is weird as well. Why do you think about it?'

Kyouhei thought about it before answering. Which excuse could he find? He finally opted for the old one.

'Because of the rent you know. It would have been much easier if he had just told her he had a girlfriend.'

Takenaga gave him the who-do-you-think-you're-fooling look but said nothing about it. Instead he told his friend there would be shooting stars that night.

'And so?'

'We never know, make a wish! Good night.'

Takenaga left the room, leaving his friend to his thoughts. As if miracles could happen? It was not as though he needed one, either. Nonetheless, if he could just prevent that guy from calling her 'ugly'…

That night, when he saw a shooting star, unconsciously, he made the wish to go back to that time everything had changed in her life.

Three years earlier

'Hey, Sunako, so you're really confess today? You're decided?'

'Yes! If I don't do it today, I'm sure I will regret it! Wish me luck!'

'Good luck! See you later.'

Sunako was nervous. She had been waiting for that day for weeks and had summoned all her courage to finally decide to confess. She had liked Takeshi since the first day she had seen him at the beginning of the year, and the more she watched him, the more she wanted to be his girlfriend. She felt like today was the day she had to do it, that it would change her life. She had decided she would wait for him at the end of his class and tell him her feelings. It was 9:59; he should be out in a minute.

The seconds seemed to be hours, but at last, the chime rang, and a few seconds later, he was standing before her. She took a deep breath and turned to face him.

'Hello Takeshi-kun, I am Nakahara Sunako from…'

Suddenly, she felt someone grab her wrist and pull her along the corridor before she had time to finish her sentence.