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Chapter Text

"Himeko, I swear that I'll always love and protect you no matter what tries to separate us."

"If you ever want a shoulder to cry on, lean on mine." 

"Red was always a boring colour to me, but after meeting you, it suddenly became my favourite."

3 knocks rhymes against the door of Himeko's house, slightly startling her and made her head perk up. "Himeko, can you get the door for me?", yells her mom from the kitchen. "Yes mom", she yells back. Maybe it's the hoard of designer bags mom bought the other day.

Himeko looks at the clock. It's 8:27 P.M. Sort of a late time to be delivering the goods though... What if some shady weirdo pops up and kidnaps me? Ugh, be calm, Himeko! You're 16, too young to be thinking this way.

Himeko reluctantly paces towards the door and slowly opens it. The person behind the door was not a shady weirdo, not a delivery man, but...

"Kafka?!" Himeko exclaimed, earning a "Who is at the door, Himeko?", in which her mother yelled from the kitchen again and peeking her head from behind the wall. "J-just a friend mom, don't worry about it!", she replies to her mother in a slightly panicking tone (and a lie), then looks back at Kafka who chuckled at the sight and whose hands are holding a bouquet of roses.

Kafka isn't even wearing any pajamas, she's wearing a white button up with black pants, a handsome and flashy look compared to Himeko's simple nightgown. Oh well, Himeko is quite pretty so she looks elegant in just a nightgown too. But why does Kafka look like she wants to take Himeko out on a dinner date? Maybe she actually wants to do that, but they're both broke teenagers, so that might have to wait.

"What are you doing here?" Himeko says as she crosses her arms above her chest, her eyes darting from Kafka's face to the bouquet of roses in her hands. "Who are these for...?", she asks. "For you, silly. It might seem like a basic gift, but I've wanted to gift you a bouquet of roses for a while now because I knew you liked them. Appreciate it?" Kafka says and lightly stretched her arms out, offering the bouquet to Himeko and smiling like a dumb idiot simply in love.

Himeko's cheeks get coloured with a light pink hue and her heart skips a beat, taking the bouquet from her hands. "Thanks. I guess...", she says, averting her eyes from Kafka's since she's never been a big fan of eye contact. Plus, she's inlove with a handsome weirdo, so that's that.

Kafka chuckles again. Her voice has always been imprinted inside Himeko's mind. It always rings in her ears every day, at school and outside of school. It's the same sound that she always hears in her dreams when Morpheus offers his arms for her to slumber in. "Do you not like the roses I gave you? Should I buy you another one, or something else?" Kafka says, putting her hands in her pockets and leaning against the door frame. She was slightly taller than Himeko, and the door lean just emphasized that.

"No, you don't have to. I do like it... It's just, why now? It's kind of late. You know you could always gift me something right after classes are over." Himeko shyly says, fixing her hair a bit with her free hand since her girlfriend is in front of her. Kafka keeps her foxy smile as she quietly admires the beauty of her red headed girlfriend, even when she's in a simple nightgown and even when she's fixing her hair. She's not obsessed, just devoted. Don't judge her.

"That shouldn't matter much, my star. I just like gifting you anything, at any time of the day, and any where I want. The time may be random and you may not like it, but I know you're always happy about the gifts. So don't be shy, I'm yours after all." Kafka stops leaning against the door and takes a step closer to Himeko. She grabs Himeko's hand and brings it up to her lips, kissing her knuckles.

Himeko's blush grows slightly more as her heart beats faster at the sudden contact. "You're so idiotic, you know that, right?", she flusteredly claims. "Only for you." Kafka replies, bringing Himeko's hand up to her face after kissing her knuckles, leaning into her touch as she still smiles at her. Himeko caresses her cheek with her thumb, then tip toeing slightly to lean in and give her a quick peck on the lips. "Right... Now go back home, it's late and we have school tomorrow." Himeko continues.

Kafka can only chuckle at her cute reaction, a small blush visible on her cheeks. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow then, sweetheart. I love you." Himeko's embarrassed and frustrated face turns into something sweet, smiling at her girlfriend's simple "I love you".

She hugs her, face nuzzled in her chest as she replies back with a "I love you too". Kafka immediately returns her embrace with the same amount of warmth.

Puppy love is precious. It happens often to the youth. To elementary kids, and to teenagers as well.

You would think that the rose symbolising eternal love was a promise Kafka quietly made to Himeko, in hopes that she would notice. Well, it is. So what went wrong?

Kafka's parents were constantly arguing, to the point her mother was planning to bring her and move out of the state after she filed a divorce, wanting to leave her now ex-husband behind. One day after school, they were at a park. Himeko was constantly bugging her to tell her what was wrong, wishing Kafka would open up and tell her everything that was bothering her, Kafka could only get fed up with all the stress and exhaustion that built up within her, so she yelled at Himeko.

"Enough! You're just annoying me. You're doing nothing to help and you're just making it worse for me. If all you do is bug me, then just don't even try."

"What...? All I want is for you to tell me what's wrong, but you won't even bother! I'm trying to help you, I want to help you! Why are you moving out? What happened? Just tell me, please, so I can help you." Himeko desperately exclaims, feeling hurt by what Kafka had just said, but she still chooses to put her feelings first.

She wanted to be considerate of her, only for things to end up in a heated argument. They were constantly yelling at each other, with Kafka having the louder voice and words, Himeko only ended up running home crying.

"So what if we break up? That doesn't even matter to me. I'm forced to move out one way or another. You're just going to be another memory for me."

"Are you serious, Kafka? Just another memory?! I know you don't actually think that, so why can't you just be honest with me? Please, tell me. Let me help you, I don't want you to bottle up everything. If you can't tell me now, you can always tell me through text. We don't have to break up." Himeko cries out.

"That's where you're wrong. I don't have to tell you anything, because we wont see each other ever again. So stop trying, Himeko. I shouldn't matter to you anymore, not in this current state we're in."

The day is getting darker, the clouds are threatening to weep, and the thunders roars a warning, all while Himeko's heart shatters at that very moment. Not everything has to have a happily ever after, does it?

The next morning, Himeko woke up. She remembered the events that occured last night, and a bad headache was threatening to bash her skull open.

She walks out of her room and towards the door, opens it and sees that Kafka's house, which was across hers, was empty. Sort of. There was only one car. They had two. She went over to her house and tried to look over the gate by tip toeing, only to be met with Kafka's father sweeping some leaves that was outside of their house.

Seeing only one car and how little the stuff was left at their house that now only her father owns, already made a pit in her stomach, knowing fully that Kafka vanished from her life. Thinking that she'll never meet her again, she stops tip toeing over their gate and stalking Mr. Franz, Kafka's father who also looks like he's in a miserable and soulless state, she goes back to her house with her head hanging low, letting the despair quietly consume her.

She just didn't think how she'll actually meet her again in a few years, and that Kafka's words only fell on as lies that both of them could have never predicted.

Chapter Text

The sound of the alarm bouncing through the walls of Himeko's university dorm wakes her up. Her hair is slightly disheveled, and she's in stripe pajamas with a little silly bear on the left side of her pajama shirt printed on top of the chest pocket.

6:50 A.M.

Oh yeah, I have classes today. 

She quickly gets up and goes to the bathroom, washing herself up and enveloping her body with a towel after she finished showering. She dresses up, putting on a black turtleneck and a long beautifully flower-patterned hazel skirt and continues to comb and do her hair how she usually does it, finishing off with a long beige coat, some natural makeup and her favourite gold rose hair accessory. Something her late father gifted her on her 17th birthday. Oh well, it sucks being a 22 year old adult when you lose many things dear to you during your teenage years.

She smiles into the mirror and angles her face left and right, checking if there's any mistakes in her makeup. *Perfect.* She thinks. Even if it's her usual routine, she knows she's quite a gorgeous woman.

On her way out, she takes the elevator to waste less time. Class starts at 9, so she decides to stop by the coffee shop not too far from the university as it takes only about a 15 minute walk to get there. She just couldn't miss out on her daily dose of caffeine. On her way, she spots someone walking their little American Shorthair, and she can't help but to stop in her tracks and scratch the head of the cute critter before properly thanking the owner for giving permission and resuming on her walk to her destination.

Finally making it to the coffee shop after taking a walk, she pushes the glass door open which makes the bells chime, signalling that a customer just came in. "The usual, please", the red headed woman says to the barista at the register, casually nodding as Himeko is actually a regular. She takes a seat at the table near the window, pulling her phone out and scrolling away as she patiently waits for her coffee.

Only about 5 minutes passed, her coffee and a small plate of croissant is served to her by one of the waitresses. But the thing is, she didn't order any food besides one cup of coffee. She thought it might be on the house for today since she's a regular, but she decides to ask anyways while picking up the cup of coffee and taking a sip.

"I don't recall ordering a croissant...?", she asks the waitress, the confusion evident in her face and voice but she still continues to sip on her coffee. "Oh, that burgundy haired woman over there actually asked to pay for a little side dish order for you, which ended up to be the croissant" says the waitress as she points to the table 6 meters across Himeko's.

Himeko's eyes follows to where her finger points to, until she spots a woman that indeed has burgundy hair tied up in a slightly messy ponytail with round sunglasses situated on the crown of her head. The woman looks at her, with a smile so... familiarly intoxicating. After analysing her facial features and expression, she dramatically bends over the table and almost spits out her coffee, startling the waitress.

"A-are you okay?!", the waitress asks, concerned and flailing her hands as she panics, unsure of what to do if Himeko were to choke. She looks up at her and gives her an awkward smile, answering with a weak "I'm fine". The waitress calms down and reluctantly bows down slightly as Himeko confirmed her well-being before walking away and leaving her to her own space. As for Himeko, she slowly and reluctantly pans her head towards the burgundy woman that's sitting 6 meters across her table. But that's not just any burgundy haired woman. She was her first love, first kiss, first heartbreak and first... everything. That she, is Kafka.

Kafka still sits there, staring at Himeko with the same smile that always creeped out whenever she was staring at her during class, usually because she was admiring and taking in her beauty and memorizing her facial features to the point the teacher would smack her on the head with a book for not paying proper attention to class.

Himeko swallows thickly as the memories and questions start to drown her again, sensing that bitter feeling threatening to kill her mentally once more. Narrowed golden eyes and furrowed eyebrows looks down to stare at the coffee and croissant, averting her gaze from Kafka's. She chose to not worry now and start thinking about it later and decides to drink her coffee and finish her croissant.

After finishing her cup of coffee and croissant, she picks up her phone and puts it back inside her bag and quickly heads out while still avoiding to look at Kafka's face just so no more of the memories would flood in. She thinks she was the only one who still held on tight even after all this time. She just didn't like the mixed emotions she's currently feeling that's threatening to distract her from her uni activities, but yet, she still has to remind herself of what's more important as of now.

The burgundy haired woman only watches as she exits the coffee shop, before looking down and closing her eyes for a brief moment just to remember the memories too. Guilt and disappointment is what's consuming her, and likewise, dread and anxiety consumes Himeko the same. Himeko's walk back to the campus was slower than earlier purely because her mind is racing with all sorts of things.

Questions, memories, assignments and projects, the future, and Kafka. Stopping in her tracks, she looks back at the coffee shop and glances through the glass wall to see Kafka resting her cheek against her palm, stirring her cup of coffee with her other hand accompanied with an unreadable expression. But she was sure that when she looked closer, her eyes had a hint of sadness to it. Clenching the handle of her satchel bag as she feels her heart getting heavier, she turns around and resumes her walk back to the campus, all while looking down at her feet as the misery drowns her again.

Upon arriving to the campus, she walks inside and gets hit with the cold breeze of the air conditioners, refreshing her mind slightly since she just met her ex on a quite sunny day. She sighs, relieving the tension from her body and choosing to sweep away the unwanted thoughts from earlier. She looks at her wrist watch. It's 8:40 A.M. Class starts in 20 minutes, so she has time to meet up with her friends in which 3 of them usually sits on one of the benches near the fountain and she would always find her dark haired friend to be the only one quietly reading books while her pink haired and grey haired friend would always banter or fight.

And she was right, as soon as she walks around further into the campus and spotting the fountain, she finds the two girls fighting again and the only boy beside them quietly reading a book about computer science, acting as if this is a normal occurrence. She chuckles at the silly sight, and walks up to them to say hello.

"Ughh— Oh, Himeko, you're here! Can you tell Stelle to stop copying everything I say?! She's getting on my nerves!" March 7th stands up from her seat, frustrated and grumpy because Stelle has apparently been teasing her since this morning. Dan Heng looks up from his book as he hears Himeko's name uttered. "Himeko, are you okay? You look a little pale." The boy asks with a hint of concern evident in his expression, yet he still remains his usual nonchalant demeanor. Himeko's eyes widen slightly, before letting out a small chuckle. "It's seemingly impressive that you're always able to tell the small differences in people. I'm fine. Just had a little... inconvenience earlier, is all." Himeko's golden pupils avoids Dan Heng's muted teal ones.

"Are you sure, Himeko? You do look kinda pale... You can have some of March's gummies if you want." Stelle hands over the bag of gummies from March's bag, before the other girl smacks her hand and making her wince in pain. "Hey, who taught you to take someone's belongings without asking first?!" March angrily states and Dan Heng sighs and continues to read his book. The silly sight makes Himeko giggle against her manicured fingers, "I'm fine, really. I'll just tell you guys about it later if you're so curious." She looks at her wrist watch again, 8:53 A.M. "But for now, we should split up and attend our classes. Dan Heng and I share the same Language and Literature course, so we shouldn't just be standing here."

March nods, "Okay, then let's meet up again for lunch later. Bye Himeko and Dan Heng!" The pink haired girl waves enthusiastically, followed by Stelle who waves along with her mouth stuffed full of gummies. Dan Heng closes his book and stands up, following Himeko who was already giggling on her way and waving back at the two girls. He walks besides Himeko up the stairs continuing to the corridor to their designated lecturing hall. There was an awkward silence between them for a moment before Dan Heng breaks it with a question, "Did you meet her again?", and Himeko almost stumbles down upon hearing the question. "Who...?", she awkwardly smiles as she refuses to look at him.

Dan Heng refuses to ask any further. "Nevermind, you can tell us about it later. But before that, did you hear about an upcoming open-house birthday party from our university's idol?", Himeko's awkward smile drops and she looks at him, slightly surprised at the statement. "University's idol? Birthday party?" she asks him with pure confusion on her face. "Robin, the songstress daughter of The Family", he states nonchalantly. "Oh, her... Wait, her birthday party?! When?", The red head asks curiously, already contemplating whether to join or not. "Tomorrow night", is what Dan Heng could only reply with.

He then continues. "Are you gonna go? March and Stelle have been practically begging me to go ever since it was announced yesterday. Stelle only agreed for the food and March just wanted to see her favourite idol." Himeko wonders and thinks to herself if she has the time tomorrow night. She smiles and looks at Dan Heng again, "Well if my dear friends are going, then I have no choice but to follow suit." Dan Heng's eyes widen slightly at her quick decision, before his lips upturn slightly and looks far at the corridor as they're nearing their lecture hall.

Chapter Text

Himeko and Dan Heng finishes their lecture and heads out of the lecturing hall. She looks down at her watch. 11:10 A.M. It's lunch time, and they have to meet up with Stelle and March at the cafeteria. Himeko looks at Dan Heng who is already following behind her, and Dan Heng immediately understands where they have to go. 

Walking down the stairs towards the very modern looking cafeteria, Himeko and Dan Heng spot their grey haired and pink haired friends sitting next to each other at their table, March seemingly showing something on her phone to Stelle to which Stelle said something about it that made March smack her shoulder for some reason. Her and Dan Heng walk over to the table and sits next to each other across them. "Oh, hey Himeko and Dan Heng! How was lecture?", March asks, forgetting what she was angry at Stelle about. 

"It was okay, but it was slightly boring considering Language and Literacy isn't my favourite...", Himeko states with a sigh. "But it's fine, I still have to study it anyways. What about you guys?" She continues. "Us? Stelle couldn't even keep her eyes open! But I can't blame her, Mr Yang can be so boring with his lectures sometimes...", March states, followed by Stelle nodding as she's slurping her noodles. "Oh, is that so?" a familiar voice comes from behind March, startling her and her friends. It was Welt Yang, adjusting his glasses as he smiles down at them. 

"Ah, M-Mr Yang! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way..." March states as she puts her hands together apologetically, scared that he might get angry. Welt only chuckles before he continues. "It's alright, I understand. If you have any suggestions on how to make my lectures more entertaining, I'd appreciate it so, March." He kindly says, showing that he isn't angry or upset at all. Himeko lets out a breathy laugh witnessing the scene. "Mr Yang, what were you teaching them?" Himeko asks. "Computer science. That's Dan Heng's favourite course, isn't it?" He looks at Dan Heng, who pulled out his book about computer science a moment ago. Dan Heng answers with an affirming hum, not looking up from his book. 

"I see... What will you—" 

"Oh my goodness!" 

Himeko's question gets cut off by a shocked voice coming from a short distance, until she and her friends look to see a crowd was forming around someone... No, there wasn't just one person. Himeko squints her eyes and tries to look closer to see a girl with silver-ashy hair colour accidentally spilling water onto a girl with periwinkle coloured hair accompanied with little angel wings behind her ears. 

"Miss Robin, I'm so sorry...", The silver-ashy haired says, shaky fists clutching her chest with a look of anxiety evident on her face. It seems that someone spilled water onto the long skirt of Robin's beautiful off-shoulder dress, the renowned songstress daughter from an infamous millionaire family. "Oh no, don't worry! This can just be washed off so you don't have to panic so much", answers the seemingly angelic woman paired with a smile so sweet. "You're Firefly, aren't you? We share the same class in Arts!" she continues, extending her hand towards the other girl. The other girl is still slightly shocked and scared, staring at her hand before slowly releasing her clutching hand from her chest, and extending it to shake hands with the songstress. 

"Please, don't worry so much. You're turning pale." She adds another hand above Firefly's to try and give more comfort. She looks around, noticing the crowd that's balled up around them and hearing gossip and whispering among most of them. She sighs, before her brother beside her shouts. "Everyone, please leave and stop your gossip. Miss Firefly did nothing wrong." The crowd hears what her brother says, before slowly dispersing followed by a handful of disappointed grunts that makes it sound as if some were thirsty for drama. Robin looks up at her brother, Sunday, and thanks him. 

"Thank you, brother. It was getting uncomfortable the moment I started hearing whispering and murmuring." She smiles and Sunday nods, before she looks back at Firefly who is still slightly shaken up and realizes that she can feel Firefly's hands sweating a little against hers. She chuckles, "Calm down, I won't publicly execute you or anything of the sorts! You just spilt your drink on my dress. I can just wash it, but I'll pay you a new drink if that's okay." Robin says, smiling sweetly at Firefly. The other girl blushes, feeling her heart skip a beat the moment she sees that mesmerizing smile. Firefly stares at her for a while, visibly admiring every single one of Robin's facial features. Robin, confused, tilts her head slightly and softly waves a hand over her face. "Hello? Are you okay?", she asks. Firefly snaps out of it and is brought back to reality as soon as she hears her sweet voice. 

"I-I'm fine! You don't have to pay for my drinks, it's okay... I can just buy a new one myself. It doesn't cost much, so...", the girl hastily replies before letting go of Robin's hands to wipe the sweat off of her own hands on her skirt. Himeko and her friends watch them from afar, seemingly invested in the scene that looks as if it came straight out of a lesbian K-drama. "Woah, Miss Robin was so professional about it, it makes me admire her even more now!" March excitedly claims as she clutches her hands together. Himeko nods. "I agree, she was really... demure about it. I've never seen anyone as elegant or angelic as her." The red head affirms. "That's Miss Robin for you, it's certainly not unexpected that she's kind to people." Welt continues along. Stelle nods after finishing a second bowl of noodles and Dan Heng looks at them briefly before looking back down to continue reading his book. 

Himeko also decides to look back at them again, spotting Firefly bowing down and Robin waving at her as she starts to walk away from her. Firefly sighing and clutching her chest again doesn't go unnoticed by Himeko, until 3 people come up to Firefly from behind. A tall man with dark long hair and orange yellow-ish eyes, a short girl with grey-bluish hair tied up in a ponytail with drills at the end of it who's blowing a bubble gum with her phone in her hand, and a tall woman with burgundy hair put in a messy ponytail and small round glasses situated at the crown of her head, crossing her arms against her breasts.

Wait.

Tall, burgundy hair put in a messy ponytail and small round glasses.

Himeko swallows nervously. It's her ex. It's Kafka. Again. Kafka is friends with Firefly. Alongside the short girl and the tall man beside them. She continues to watch even as the anxiety in her slowly builds up again just from the sight of Kafka. Firefly turns around as she feels the presence of her friends, and Kafka approaches her, putting a hand on her shoulder for extra comfort. She can't hear what they're saying given she's watching them from a distance, but she can tell that they're reassuring Firefly about the situation. Only the beating of her heart can be heard in her ears, a heartbeat so loud that it threatens to explode her eardrums. It doesn't help that its accompanied with that same feeling of dread and apprehension again. 

After Kafka reassures Firefly, she stands behind her other friends with that same foxy smile Himeko knew years ago and she watches as they talk to her. To Himeko, she and Kafka are the only ones in the room right now. She stares at her from afar, taking in her facial features as Kafka looks around the cafeteria. 

She's beautiful.

"What?"

Himeko is brought back to reality the moment Dan Heng's voice cuts through her thoughts. She looks at him awkwardly. "What...?", she asks. "You didn't hear yourself?" Dan Heng replies, arching a brow up in confusion. Himeko didn't realize that she just said her thoughts out loud and her eyes widen in shock. "Yeah, you just said 'she's beautiful' out of nowhere! But the thing is, who is beautiful?" March jumps right in the conversation, poking Himeko's cheek. "Maybe she's talking about that lady over there?" Stelle adds while pointing towards Kafka before Welt gently pushes her hand down, "Stelle, you shouldn't point at random people." He says. 

Stelle puts her hand back down and apologizes, and March decides to continue it. "Stelle could be right... Your eyes were gluing on to that burgundy haired girl! Who is she? Do you know her? Is she a long time crush? An academic rival?" 

"Or an ex?" Stelle continues. 

Himeko visibly shudders slightly at her claim. Well, now that gave it away. Her visible shudder doesn't go unnoticed by her friends, to which Stelle and March looked at each other in surprise. Himeko notices that they got the hint, and she decides to tell them a little about Kafka.

"OH-EM-GEE, Himeko!", March exaggeratingly says while slamming on the table, making some people's heads turn in the cafeteria. "Are you still in love with her?!", the pink haired girl shouts, continuing her sentence. Himeko jumps and starts shaking her head vigorously. "N-no! Why would I be?! It's been like...", she counts using her fingers. "6 years already! I started forgetting about her on the third year..." Himeko anxiously runs her hands through her hair, hoping that they wont notice her lie. Dan Heng answers with a skeptical hum, before asking "Are you sure?", making Himeko blink a few times at him before answering. "Well...", she replies as she slowly averts her eyes from his. 

March and Stelle gasps dramatically, almost at the same time, before continuing to tease and ask Himeko a multitude of questions while Welt is trying to stop them, or else Himeko will short circuit and lose it. Little does she know, Kafka has been watching them ever since she heard March shouting. How convenient, March. But that doesn't mean Kafka cared about her, or any of Himeko's friends around her. In her eyes, her favourite shade of red was the only color visible and everything else was grey and blurry. The same way Kafka looked at her back when they were still in love. Running on a shade of red, hypnotized by golden pupils and drunk in those soft pink lips she always indulged in. That was Kafka's world. 

Now she was the one watching her ex getting teased by her friends from afar, seeing her various nervous, awkward and embarrassed expressions as her friends shake her around, poke her and throw more than 5 questions at her. She chuckles to herself, seeing as Himeko started standing up from her seat and was telling them to cut it out with such a cute embarrassed expression plastered on her pretty face, one she always saw whenever she teases her back then. She then shakes her head, calmly realizing what she's thinking about and deciding to get rid of it before she gets addicted again. 

Himeko sighs and looks at her wrist watch, seeing as it's now 12:01 P.M. "Let's stop here, we have more classes and lectures to attend later. I've told you guys enough about myself." Himeko crosses her hands who became slightly grumpy from the exhaustion of keeping up with her friends' teasing. "Awww, but Himeko!" March pleads. "No. That's about all I can give you. Now let's move along, I'll send a text in the group chat later." Her friends get up from the seat as other people started leaving before them as well, and their classes continued until 5:50 P.M.

  —

Himeko still continues to dry her hair with a towel after showering and putting on her pajamas. She plops down onto the bed and grabs her phone from her makeup desk, scrolling away for a bit. She decides to put on a face mask as it's a part of her skincare routine. Getting up from the bed and opening the drawers of her makeup desk to search for where she put her face masks. She then opens the 3rd drawer to find a wine red leather box with a golden clip seal on it. Curious, she takes it out and places it on her makeup desk. She unclips the seal open to find a handful of old gifts, all of them supposedly from Kafka. 

There was a gold bracelet that still looked good as new, a paper flower, a small love letter, a small silly drawing of Himeko and then a picture of her and Kafka posing in front of the camera because the picture was taken in a photo booth, where Himeko did a peace sign and Kafka who put half a heart on the left side of Himeko's cheek where she had to put her arm around her to do so. Himeko's face looked slightly shocked in the photo. The photo is what catches her attention more, and she grabs it and examines the photo before noticing there's a handwriting on the bottom left corner of the picture that says "- Kafka's ♡". Himeko's hearts starts racing as she remembers old memories of Kafka again. She grabs the photo and takes a closer look at it, and turns it around to see that Kafka wrote another sentence that says "I love you, my star", with a little silly drawing of Kafka herself besides the sentence. 

Himeko laughs, feeling butterflies in her stomach. She turns the photo back around and kisses Kafka's face in the picture. "Maybe I still love you after all. But I still have many unanswered questions." She says, with her voice lowering to a whisper as she looks at the picture with a hint of sadness in her face. "If none of that happened, I wonder if we would still be together." Himeko continues, before putting the photo back in the box. She decides to skip her skincare routine just for tonight, and lays down on the bed to succumb into deep slumber. After all, she has to get enough sleep because the birthday party is tomorrow night.

Chapter Text

Girl, you're the one I want, you're the one I need

I'm begging you please

Can you come back to me

Cause I was blind to see

That you were right in front of me

Infrunami — Steve Lacy

Another new day starts as she hears her alarm rings at the concluded time she set it to last night. Followed by usual morning routine and posing a little in front of her mirror after putting on a cute white loose satin blouse and finishing it off with a black flared skirt. Almost looking as if she's going to a corporate office job than a university. But she still looks good nonetheless, and it's not like universities or colleges have strict dress codes. Everyone in her university always makes the campus look like a fashion runway with all their flashy outfits anyways. 

Like that one rich blonde guy named Aventurine that's always wearing dashing suits and button up shirts with real gold accessories all over his wrists and neck. And that one girl named Serval, who Himeko knows is a part of a band that performed during their university festival last year, is always wearing ripped jeans, shorts and skirts along with crop tops, fishnets and tights that makes her look like she's still an edgy teen. But truth to Himeko, she finds her fashion really fun and nice to look at, and it's not like Himeko has time to judge what other people wear. 

After taking the elevator and arriving at ground floor before exiting the building, she notices that the sun isn't shining that much today, but the sky is still blue, the wind is blowing mildly, and many cafes seem a little busy. She looks down at her wrist watch, it's 7:28 A.M. She decides to continue walking to her favourite coffee shop to take her daily dose of caffeine. Arriving at the place, she opens the glass door and the bells chimes and she's hit with the cool breeze of the AC in the cafe. 

After ordering her usual brew, she sits down at one of the tables on the right side of the shop and takes her notebook out to read and memorize and some of her notes from yesterday's lectures. A few minutes passed and her cup of coffee arrives, she thanks the waitress and continues to sip her coffee while reading her notes. She does so for about 4 minutes as she's engrossed in memorizing the scribbles and sentences she wrote yesterday. 

She hears the chair on the opposite side of her table being moved and sees a glimpse of a black dress shirt tucked in beige slacks at the top of her vision. As she's still sipping on her coffee, she slowly looks up, and she's met with Kafka's light purple pupils looking into her golden ones with a smile. Shocked, she chokes on her coffee and starts having a small coughing fit. Kafka stretches her hand to her with a napkin in it, and as Himeko stops coughing, she reluctantly grabs the napkin and pats it at her mouth gently before clearing her throat. 

"What do you want?" Himeko starts. 

"Nothing. I was just bored." 

"Bored? Don't joke with me." 

"I'm not." 

"Are you gonna be honest, or are you gonna keep that same dishonest trait like you did years ago?" 

Kafka stays silent and she still smiles at her. Himeko furrows her eyebrows as Kafka continues to look at her. She doesn't like this negative feeling that continues to consume her each and every time she sees Kafka. 

"You're just as beautiful as the day I lost you." 

Himeko's eyes widen as she hears Kafka's words that broke the silence between them. Kafka chuckles, seeing the shocked expression on Himeko's face. 

How do you even reply to that? No, first of all, what does she even mean by that? Himeko thinks as her heart starts racing, both in the good and bad way. But more so the bad way, especially in this moment where she encounters her ex again in the same cafe as last time.

"How've you been?", Kafka continues, waiting for Himeko to reply. 

"That's none of your business." Himeko bites back. 

"Sure it is." 

Himeko stays quiet and glares at her. She can only feel frustration and anger bubble up in her as she slowly remembers the day her and Kafka fought, and never saw each other again for a few years. Not until now. That same girl is in front of her, looking at her with the same expression she knew years ago. All that chains Himeko is her past with Kafka, and that is the only anvil that weighs on top of her. Unless they want to communicate properly and fix everything, that anvil will only continue to crush her mentally and affect her emotions badly. After all, Himeko struggles to maintain her emotions in situations that pressures her. This is one of them. 

She feels as if she's about to burst, either in tears or out of anger. All of her emotions swirl uncontrollably inside of her and she doesn't know which emotion she's feeling right now. Only thing she knows is that her questions for Kafka are all still unanswered, and she wonders if all of it can be fixed, undone or erased. 

"Something on your mind? You've been silent for a bit now." Kafka says, bursting her out of her thought bubble. Himeko jumps just slightly at her words. She releases the tension in her jaw and un-furrows her eyebrows for a moment, closing her eyes and releases a breath she didn't realize she's been holding. Kafka continues to keep her smile and stares at her. 

"That's how you regulate your emotions?" 

"Why do you care?" 

"I always cared." 

Himeko pauses. 

"No. You don't. Which is why I chose to avoid you." 

"You wound me, my scarlet star." Kafka says, feigning offense. 

Himeko winces at the pet name. "Don't ca—" 

"Are you going to Robin's birthday party later?" Kafka cuts her off before she could even finish her sentence. 

"... First of all, don't interrupt me when I'm speaking. Second, yes I am. My friends invited me." She looks at her with a grumpy face. 

"Strict and moody as ever, aren't you? I could pick you up later." 

"No thank you. My friends will pick me up. But now knowing that you're going to the party as well makes me not want to go anymore." She finishes her cup of coffee and gets up and grabs her bag. 

"Just make sure I don't see you at the party later. You already ruined my day, so don't ruin my night." Himeko states coldly, glaring daggers at Kafka before she exits the shop, leaving Kafka alone at the table. 

Kafka chuckles to herself. "That's what I missed about you."

Himeko arrives at her campus and meets her 3 friends sitting on the edge of one of their exterior university fountain. She walks up to them and greets them with a small wave. Her friends spot her and waves back at her. "Hey Himeko! What class are you having later?" March says first, having boba tea in her right hand. She probably bought it from the boba tea shop not too far from her favourite coffee shop. "Hi March, I'll attend an Engineering and Technology course later. Professor Screwllum teaches this one, I'm pretty sure." She replies, then looking around the campus to see people gathered in their own circles more than usual. "Is there a reason why there's so many people gathering outside of the campus right now?" She asks. 

"They're likely talking about Robin and her birthday party later tonight. You're going, right?" Dan Heng says, looking up at Himeko. "Oh, yes, I'm going. But the thing is, how are we gonna get there? I don't even know the address of Robin's home..." She asks again, seemingly worried since she might get lost on her way there and she also doesn't know how far it is. "I asked Mr Yang to pick us up. He said he'll be going as well. Plus, I think he's pretty close to us so it'll be fine", Stelle replies. Himeko lets out a sigh of relief. "I see... It wouldn't be a problem since we all live in the dorm anyways." 

"Yeah, exactly! Do you guys have an outfit planned for later?" March enthusiastically asks, curious about what they'll wear. "I'm pretty sure they said it's a formal wear party, so we have to dress good or else people will make fun of us. I have this cute dress in my closet, so I'll definitely be wearing that later!" 

"I wanna keep mine a secret, heh." Stelle smugly says. 

"I haven't found a suitable outfit." Dan Heng deadpans. 

"Ugh, you guys are something else... What about you, Himeko?" March turns to look at Himeko with big doe eyes, looking especially eager to know what she'll wear. 

Himeko chuckles at the look of her face. "I already have a dress in mind, but maybe I wanna surprise you guys as well?" She replies to March with a teasing smile. 

"Awww, but I wanna know!" March pleads. "Fine, whatever. You guys can go and arrive naked at the party for all I care." She crosses her arms and pouts, grumpy for no reason. 

"That sounds like the thing only Stelle would do." Dan Heng replies, nonchalantly making fun of his gray haired friend. 

"Hey, why am I catching strays?!" Stelle yells. 

They laugh at her reaction for a bit, and Himeko looks down at her wrist watch to see that it's about 8:50 A.M. "Alright guys, class is gonna start soon. Let's meet up later at the party." Himeko says, before they all agree and split up to attend their respective classes. So then, lectures and classes continued until 5:50 P.M, almost 6 P.M.

—

The party starts at 8, and Welt will pick her up at 7:25. Himeko just finished showering and her body is wrapped with a towel. Clutching on to the towel, she walks over to her closet and opens it, rummaging through the closet to find the dress she wanted to wear. She eventually finds it, a beautiful flowy slit thigh sleeveless dress with gold leaves wrapping around the waist part for decoration. After putting her undergarments on, she continues to slip on the dress and stands in front of the mirror. 

She angles her body left and right, then turning around to look at the back of her dress over her shoulder. She smiles to herself and plays with her hair a little. 

I look pretty good.

She then continues to sit on the chair at her makeup desk, and starts doing her usual natural makeup. Concealer, mascara, lipgloss and a little bit of eye makeup, done. No blush because Himeko isn't really a blush type of girl. Her phone on the desk rings as soon as she finishes her makeup. She looks over, seeing that it's March whos dialing her. She picks it up. 

"Hey Himeko, we're waiting outside! I don't know what floor you're in, but you should get down here quick!" March yells at her through the phone. "Alright alright, I'll get there. Just let me grab my bag first and you'll see me. Don't get too excited." Himeko replies with a chuckle. March only answers with an "okay" before hanging up. She then notices that the time is 7:21. Wow, Mr Yang really is always on time. She grabs her designer handbag her mother gave to her a year ago and puts her phone, lipgloss, tissues and some sweets in it. 

She takes the elevator and waits for just a moment until she arrives at ground floor and exits the building. She then sees a black car right outside of the entrance, and the window rolls down to reveal Welt in the driver's seat wearing a black tuxedo and Dan Heng at the front seat wearing a simple white dress shirt and necktie, she can't see his pants entirely but she knows he's wearing black trousers. Then the backseat window rolls down to reveal March in her cute white-blue gradient dress waving at Himeko and Stelle sitting beside her wearing an incomplete crimson tuxedo without a tie and some buttons of her white shirt is undone. She smiles and walks towards the car, opening the door to the backseat and sits next to March. 

"Woah, Himeko, you look so good in that dress! It makes you look more mature..." March starts, putting a hand over her mouth as she's genuinely in awe with how beautiful Himeko made herself look. Himeko lets out a breathy laugh, "I just couldn't let this dress go to waste. You look quite pretty yourself, March." She says, smiling at March. "Oh, thank you Himeko! Of course I am, fufu~" The pink haired girl proudly says, puffing her chest out slightly purely because Himeko's compliment boosted her ego a bit. 

"Well, you always look pretty." 

March shudders as she hears Stelle say that out of nowhere. "Wha... W-well, obviously!" March stutters a bit as Stelle's sudden compliment surprises her. They do compliment each other, but not often. It's only ever about their competency in doing a project or activity together. Himeko laughs at them, enjoying another one of their cute interactions. "You two are always fighting, it's almost as if you're newlyweds that always joke around with each other!" She puts a hand over her mouth as she giggles. March only blushes and stammers as Himeko teases her. "S-stop it Himeko!" She fists her hands, embarrassed and flustered with the way Himeko is teasing her. Stelle only looks out to the window, possibly hiding her embarrassed face as well. 

"Alright kids, calm down. We're gonna set off." Welt says, stopping them from their bantering. He looks down at his watch, it's about 7:33 P.M. "Okay, let's go then." Himeko claims. He adjusts the gear shift to drive, and sets off to Robin's house which he knew the address of because it was plastered on the posters that was put all over the walls of their university.

After a short drive, they soon arrive to Robin's hou— Well, mansion. "What the heck... This girl's mansion is huge!" March says as she gets out of the car and stares up at the tall mansion, followed by Himeko. Stelle gets out on the other side along Welt and walks around the car to get to them, and she also ends up staring in awe at Robin's luxurious mansion. "I knew that for someone like Robin would live in a big home, but I never thought it would be this grand..." Dan Heng continues, who is slightly in awe of the place himself. 

Theres many people that are still outside of the mansion. Either talking in small circles before the party starts, or they just arrived at the same time as Himeko and her friends, or they're waiting for their other friends to arrive. The sound of chattering is loud, even outside the mansion. Knowing that this party might tire her out, Himeko sighs. She'll have to put up with this just for a little while. "Should we go in?", Welt breaks their trance and thoughts. They all nod and make their way towards the big entrance, walking along with other people who just arrived. 

You might think that the exterior is already grand enough, you'd be surprised to see the interior. The interior was huge and luxurious, many gold chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling. There were paintings of The Family's past heirs and family members put on the walls of the mansion, and the walls were covered in beautiful flower-like patterns. The entire mansion was covered with a ton of gold decorations. The people invited were something else too. Not just the public, or people from Himeko's university, even quite a lot of big shots were invited to the party. There was the beautiful Yae Miko who owns the Guuji Yae Publishing Company and beside her was a tall woman with braided purple hair, presenting to be more masculine than her. Himeko thinks she's probably a bodyguard or a friend that was just invited. 

Then the IPC elite 10 member group called "Stonehearts", who all have gemstones as code names to symbolize their authority and abilities within the corporation. They look pretty intimidating... Is what Himeko thinks. Then goes the CEO of the Qixing Business Corporation, Lady Ningguang and her secretaries. There was also a group of 13 people. A bubbly, cheery pink haired girl seemingly standing out from all of her friends who consisted of a tall man with white hair and a neutral expression, akin to Dan Heng's. Then a woman whose hair was the same color as the glass of wine she's drinking, a woman with ashy light brown hair that had an appearance that looked motherly, another tall man with silver gray-ish hair that had a weird mask covering his face, a short grumpy looking woman with green hair and so on. 

Himeko feels a little intimidated by the amount of famous people that are invited to the party, but she reminds herself that she'll still enjoy the party nonetheless. "Feeling nervous?", Welt comes up to her from behind, ridding her of her thoughts. "Mr Yang, you scared me... But yes, I guess you could say so. I didn't expect there to be a lot of famous people here." Himeko replies with an awkward smile playing on her lips. Welt smiles back. "Haha, I know. I didn't expect it either. But you'll get used to it, just don't run about too far from us. If theres anything you need, just call me." He reassures her. Welt is like a second father figure to Himeko, because he's someone that she relies and depends on a lot. That's only because his personality has a striking resemblance to her late father. Her awkward smile turns into a genuine one as she looks at him. "Thank you, Mr Yang. I'll keep that in mind." 

The moment they're done talking, the favoured songstress and birthday girl who is hosting the party comes up on to the stage that was set in the middle of the gigantic room. "Seems like Miss Robin is about to make a speech." Welt states. "Everyone, attention please." Her brother, Sunday, shouts. Himeko and everyone else looks up to the stage to listen to what Robin has to say as an opening speech. 

"Greetings to everyone that is present here tonight. Thank you for coming to my 22nd birthday party. I extend my gratitude towards all of you who managed to come even if you were in a hassle of sorts. Tonight, we will have a celebration that will bring joy to all of those who have come to celebrate with us. Don't worry, any inconveniences shall be reported and taken care of under all of my guards' supervision. So now, let us begin the party, and celebrate to our heart's content!" She finishes and the crowd cheers immediately, the loud sound of clapping thundering through the big room. Huh, reminds me of a ballroom.

March claps enthusiastically and looks at Robin up at the stage with sparkles in her eyes. "Holy cow, she's so cool and professional! Her flowy dress makes her look so much more beautiful than ever!" She excitedly claims. March wonders why she hasn't heard Stelle say anything, so she turns her head around to see that she's struggling to tie a necktie around her own collar. "Ugh, seriously? As soon as the party started?" The pink haired girl says, wondering how she's even friends with Stelle in the first place. She stops Stelle's hands from fiddling with the tie, and she starts doing her tie for her. All Stelle could do was hold her breath as March is within her proximity. She feels like a kid, letting her mom do her tie for her. There was a few seconds of silence between them, drowning in the loud chattering of guests and the music playing in the background. 

"Do you... like Robin?" Stelle cuts the awkward silence apart. 

"H-huh? What's this all of a sudden? Like romantically or as a friend or an idol?" March asks. 

"Romantically." 

"Oh, well I don't... Even if I did, why would you care?" 

Again, there goes another few seconds of silence between them. Until March feels a little mischievous and decides to tease Stelle a little. 

"What's that look on your face? Got a crush on me or what?" She wiggles her eyebrows stupidly at Stelle. 

"What if I did?" 

March's smug smile falters, before she replaces it with an awkward one. 

"Haha, funny joke Stelle. Got me there." 

"What if it's not a joke?" Stelle grabs March's wrist, pulling her closer to her face. March's eyes widen and she blushes furiously at the sudden antic. "Wh—... A-are you serious?!" March stutters. Stelle only stares into her eyes for a bit before smirking and pulling away. "Think what you wanna think." She says, walking away to one of the long buffet table while finishing her tie herself. March stands there by herself, bewildered as to what she just experienced. 

Himeko was watching them from the side, hiding in the crowd. Guess it's safe to say that Himeko was quite shocked herself too, since she would have never made out the fact that Stelle would do something like that out of the blue. But she knows that a new love is blooming, and she chuckles to herself, thinking about March and Stelle's relationship in the future. As she pours a non-alcoholic drink for herself, she notices that the crowd is gaining more and more each few minutes and she feels that the area she's in, which is near one of the buffet tables, is getting more pushy and tight which is starting to make Himeko feel uncomfortable. 

Oh Aeons, more people are gonna come and the entire place is gonna be so stuffy...

She tries to squeeze herself through the crowd that's piling up more little by little, saying "excuse me's" and "sorry's" as she does so. She manages to get out to an area with less people and spots a big doorway towards an empty kitchen in the corner. She makes her way there, with her drink still in her hand. She arrives to the countertop of the kitchen and sets her drink down to let out a sigh of relief and to collect herself for a moment. She pulls her phone out to use the camera to check on her makeup to see if it's ruined. As she's looking into her own face on her phone camera, she sees no mistakes on her makeup. Until she notices the face of a random man standing right behind her. 

She's startled, and turns around to see the man. He has a weird smile playing on his lips. He's probably drunk. She thinks. "What do you want?" She bites first. The man laughs at her. "Why so serious? Isn't it obvious I just wanna have some fun with a beautiful lady?" He answers back. Himeko furrows her eyebrow in disgust and sighs. "No, I'm not here for that. Please leave." She argues. "Huh? You have such a feisty personality... I like that." He leans into her, the smell of alcohol is evident in his breath and she covers her nose. Eugh... Disgusting.

"I told you the first time, I'm not here for that. Now go." She makes a shooing motion with her hand while her other hand still covers her nose to block the gross smell of alcohol. He stops smiling and grabs her wrist tightly, the sudden action surprising her. "Hey, you won't have fun with me?! I'm the most good looking guy around the campus, why would a mere bitch like you say no to me?" He shouts at her, making Himeko wince in discomfort. "I don't care, let go of me!" She says, trying to escape from his grip and pushing him away with her other hand, only to fail as he also grips her other wrist and pushes her against the counter. 

"I'll teach a bitch like you a lesson." She whines in pain as she's put into an uncomfortable position, and utterly terrified that something bad is gonna happen right now, so she closes her eyes shut out of fear. 

Until he gets pulled at by the hair by someone from behind, releasing his grip of Himeko's wrists. Himeko's eyes fly out open as she hears the voice of the man screaming in agony, only to see Kafka twisting his arm around. She watches them, shocked and confused. "Ahhh, stop stop stop! Let go of me you fucking whore!" He yells out. Kafka doesn't say anything back for a moment, hearing him continue his whines. She then throws him on the ground harshly against the counter, making sure his head hits the edge of the counter and his back hits the handle of the cabinet below which makes him yelp in pain. 

"Don't touch her again." Is the only thing she says, glaring daggers at him before the man looks up at her in a mix of fear and anger. His left hand is holding onto his right arm that she twisted. He weakly gets up, wobbling around as he quickly walks away from them and mumbling curses under his breath. Himeko watches in confusion and also relief as the man walks away, then up to Kafka in which she notices her jaw is tense, meaning that she was actually pissed off. "Thanks..." Himeko says first, her left hand holding her right arm awkwardly. Kafka turns her head around to look at Himeko, then looks at the hand rubbing at her other arm. She slowly grabs her hand and examines the red bruise on her wrist, caused by the man gripping her wrist too tightly earlier. 

Himeko stays quiet as she lets her examine her wrist. Before Kafka breaks the silence with a small click of her tongue. "Does it hurt somewhere else?" She asks. "No, nowhere except for my wrists." Himeko pauses. "Wait... Wait a moment. Why are you here???" Himeko retracts her hand from Kafka's as soon as her mind is less fuzzy from confusion, fear and shock. Well, she's still shocked from seeing Kafka out of nowhere. 

"Is that really important right now?" She grabs her hand back, lightly touching at the bruise. Himeko gasps in pain as she feels her touch on her wrist. Kafka says nothing and there goes another moment of silence between them. She looks up slightly to see Kafka's expression and seeing how her jaw is still clenching and her eyebrows are furrowed slightly. Then she eyes down to the collar of her white dress shirt that's undone by 2 buttons and the black waistcoat that she's wearing to the belt that's keeping her slacks up. Himeko swallows and her heartbeat starts to pick up. Kafka is looking rather handsome tonight, and Himeko probably hates that. Probably. She feels a rush of heat creeping onto her face as she stares at her neck, jaw and collarbone, then to her slightly bigger hands that's holding hers. 

"You've gotten taller." The red head states mindlessly while looking at her. 

Kafka looks up from her wrists to her golden eyes with the slightest bit of surprise in her expression, before she smirks. "Oh? What was that just now? Is that your way of saying I've gotten better looking over the years?" She teasingly says. Himeko's slight blush becomes more prominent. "W-what... Of course not, I don't care about your looks, I didn't even mention it!" She turns her head around to avert her eyes from Kafka's, trying to hide her flustered face. Kafka only chuckles before looking slightly closer to admire her ex's beautiful embarrassed face, taking in her features one by one. Her long eyelashes, her mesmerizing golden eyes, her soft light pink lips that Kafka always got drunk on. 

And that mole. That goddamn mole on the right side of her breast. It's seen because her white dress covered only a little bit of her cleavage. Kafka knows she shouldn't have these thoughts, especially not about her literal ex. But she can't entirely control it, because this girl is the one that she feel in love with first, and only her friends know that she'd kill to get her scarlet princess back. "What are you looking at?" Himeko stops Kafka from her trance, bringing her back to reality. 

"Nothing. I wasn't lying about what I said earlier." 

"What?" 

"You're beautiful. Just like the day I lost you." She brings her hand up to kiss it.

"Hu— What...?!"

Seriously, what do you even do in situations like these?