Jade Sky

To Confront And Live

I had braced myself for anything to go wrong—to the point where paranoia had taken over and I was afraid to go anywhere alone. I'd drag Haru with me almost anywhere, and he always obliged, even if I never explained myself.

Surprisingly, nothing had happened for almost a month; Natsuko never even attempted to talk to me. I let down my guard, a little too late.

I sighed as I stared at the ranking board, Haru looking over my head. "You barely passed."

Hajime looked over as well. "Is work finally getting to you?"

I shook my head. I wasn't as busy as Haru or Hajime—a few drama shoots, a theatre play, not exactly much trouble.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

I banged my head against the wall, as Haru pulled me back. "Yeah, just needed to clear my head."

Haru sighed. "Something's bothering you and I don't know what."

Hajime nodded in agreement, and looked around, his eyes settling on someone as he gave whoever it was a hard look.

That very lunch hour, I found a piece of paper on my desk, asking me to come to the rooftop. I looked around and realized only Natsuko was missing. I think it's time for me to ask my questions.

I pulled Misaki aside and whispered to her, as I watched her expression change from surprise to determination. She and I shared a look that spoke of a promise. I squeezed her hand slightly, and headed to the roof, hearing my footsteps echo on the stairs.

"So why?" I asked, standing on the rooftop as the wind blew. I faced down Natsuko. "You got me kicked out of my house and almost killed me, so what do you want now?"

"You were kicked out of your house?" he asked amused. "I had just assumed I'd left you for dead."

"You tried to murder my mother—like she'd keep me in the house after that!"

He smiled. "Your mom got in the way."

I shivered slightly, the look in his eyes was insane. "So why me?"

"Because you had everything I didn't. I wanted to take it away from you."

"Psychopath," I said, thinking this would make for a very good drama shoot as well.

He smiled, and pulled a knife from his jacket as I stepped back in alarm. Who brings a knife to school!?

"But I think it's time to finish the job, no?"

He stepped forward and I stepped back as something whooshed past me and hit him in the face. A shoe.

I stepped back again as Hajime ran past me and tackled Natsuko, pushing him to the ground face-first.

"Misaki, did you get all that?" Hajime asked, as Misaki held up her voice recorder and nodded. I had told Misaki what had happened and asked her to record anything that happened—I never expected to see Hajime here.

Haru, who was hobbling along on one shoe, grabbed me and turned me around so I was facing him.

"Reika? Are you alright?"

I threw my arms around him, and pulled him down with me to the floor. I don't know how long we sat there, but I did know that Hajime and Misaki had left, dragging Natsuko along with them. Hajime had come back later, and whispered to us that they were sending Natsuko to some reformation center. He ruffled my hair, while I still had my face buried in Haru's shirt.

"Reika?" Hajime asked as I nodded to indicate I had heard him. "Let's go home."

I shook my head, as Haru stood up, pulling me along with him. I belatedly realized that we were up on the roof, and Haru had stayed up here for so long with me despite his acrophobia.

We headed downstairs, and then headed back to the dorms.

Shun and Kai both raised an eyebrow seeing me look like I had died and come back to life, but neither of them said anything as I lay down on the couch and put my head on Misaki's lap.

"We wouldn't have let you die, don't worry."

I laughed as I looked up at her. "Yeah, I know."

"Kai, I want tea," said Shun as I looked up in amusement.

"Alright, alright," said Kai, standing up.

"Make a cup for the princess too—your tea can make anyone feel better."

He nodded and walked to the kitchen, as I got up and looked at Shun.

"That was extremely thoughtful. Thank you."

He simply smiled.

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Shooting for the drama happened side-by-side with the practice for the theatre play. And I was quite surprised when I found Hajime and Haru passed out in the living room together. I threw a blanket over them as Shun walked in and took a photo of Hajime.

"Are you going to blackmail him with that?" I asked, looking over Shun's shoulder and glancing at his phone.

"Of course not. I'm going to frame it and hang it up in my room," said Shun, with an almost innocent smile.

"That's even creepier, Shun," wondering if I was seeing the birth of a serial killer.

He just smiled and walked away.

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"But there's no one who would protect you. There's no one who would come running in if you scream," said Haru, holding a knife to my throat. Honestly, the number of knives I've been this close to was increasing at an almost uncomfortable pace.

"What makes you think I care enough to scream?"asked the other girl, looking at me and Haru. I had my hands up in surrender. "I don't even know her," she said, giving me a cold glance, as betrayal stung my heart. She shifted her eyes to Haru. "Do with her as you will."

"And cut!" someone called as Haru pulled the knife away and I collapsed to the floor.

"Well done," said the director, as I looked up at Haru, who had an amused smile in his face.

"You make an excellent villain," I said, as Haru held his hand out. I took it and let him pull me up.

I found myself wondering more about school, now that work had settled in a bit. I was a little worried about the last set of exams we'd written. Turns out I didn't need to worry too much.

"You're marks have gone up," said Hajime approvingly, as I followed him to the ranking board.

We were nearing the end of the year, and if my marks were still terrible, I'd be in a lot of trouble.

I sighed in relief as I noticed my name was second, tied with Haru.

Haru walked up to me and ruffled my hair. "If you were so worried about that psychopath when he had transferred, you could have just told us. I didn't know he was the one who had attempted to murder you," he said, a murderous look in his eyes reminding me of villain Haru from the drama.

"I'm pretty sure that even if you're an idol, you can't murder someone and get away with it."

"Well, she's not wrong. But I would've helped," said Hajime. "They'd have never found his body."

"Hajime," I chastised with exasperation, as he simply looked away. The amount of confidence he had packed into that one statement was off the charts.

Misaki glanced at me. "That's someone we don't want to mess with."

"I'll have to agree with you there," I nodded.

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