Rin frowned. "Hey Gumi, what happened to you? Yesterday you seemed really unsociable. Now you're a social butterfly."

"What are you talking about? I was always sociable." Gumi laughed. She took off her heart-framed glasses and set them on the abused desk they were using as a dining table. She jumped in one of the two chairs. "Sit down, Rin."

"Of course," Rin replied, taking the other seat. Even though Gumi's tone sounded incredibly sincere, she could not believe her because that was not fact. They both took out their lunches from their backpacks. Gumi happily ate her rice ball. Rin, on the other hand, rolled around the cherry tomato in her lunch daintily with her fork as she stared at Gumi's eyes. There were no lies in those eyes; it was just as Miku explained. Gumi had gone through a complete transformation, but it was as if she had those personalities in the first place.

In the abandoned classroom during lunch, Rin was sure no one would disturb them. On normal circumstances, she wouldn't be in here because of its creepy surroundings. The lights above were all broken, except for one. There were two beat up lockers on one corner of the room and a knocked-over, dry bucket on the other side. The windows were cracked and the curtains ripped. The chalkboard was completely scratched up, having some profane words on its face. Dust covered the corners of the room, which made it hard to breathe until you opened the windows. No matter how much she felt like running away, she had to get to the bottom of this. She figured she needed to talk to Gumi in private or else nothing would be revealed.

Forcing a fake smirk, she pointed her fork at Gumi and asked, "How was lunch with Gakupo yesterday?"

"What are you talking about?" Gumi replied.

"What are you talking about?" Rin countered. "I saw him ask you! And then during lunch you ran off without saying anything! Gumi!"

Gumi giggled. "What are you saying? Of course I'd tell you! We're friends aren't we? Why would I run off without saying anything? Silly Rin. Although…" Gumi's cheeks turned the same color as Rin's uneaten tomato, "I wonder if Gakupo would ask me out again? That would be nice…"

Rin couldn't believe it. It was a lie, yet Gumi wasn't lying completely. She seemed to be brainwashed. Every word that came out was the living truth to her, but not for the rest of the world. Rin's head started to hurt.

"What… did you do at lunch yesterday?"

"I ate lunch with you guys, of course!"

She was speechless. However, she needed to get more information quickly. There was a theory forming in her mind, but it was a bit of a long shot. She bit her lip.

After the passing silence, Gumi changed topics (not seeming to notice Rin's actions) and led Rin at her pace. Before long, the bell had rung and they had to return to class. Rin almost regretted not being able to change back topics. At least she had gotten a clue of what this was all about. All she needed were a few more pieces of the puzzle and all would be solved, right?

Gumi had left first, wanting to chat with whomever she passed by when going to class. Rin dazedly stared at the open door and remembered her next period class was self-study. Also, Gakupo was in that class, but he always skipped it to go take a nap. She smiled. "Perfect!"

After school, Gumi felt like she was on the top of the world. It was as if all the ugly things in the world were suddenly… beautiful. She greeted the setting sun with a smile and all the other people blessed by its wonderful light. Though some people looked at her strangely (she couldn't fathom why), she could care less. She was a girl in love, that's why! Her feelings were blossoming like the flowers in the school garden.

Gakupo called her name and she responded with a lovely smile. He seemed more relieved than he was yesterday. Though she wondered why just seeing her as her normal self would calm him, she decided this was no time to ponder such things. If he was here, she had to talk to him as much as possible! They chatted happily about nothing important. Before they parted ways, he gave her an extremely bright grin. Her heart fluttered. He left her with the best gift of all.

As she walked home, every step she took was with a lighthearted feeling, unlike the negative people around her. She hoped her positive aura would spread and warm their hearts, so the world would be happy. She talked to some of these people, but they seemed really annoyed. They even called her weird and stupid! How rude!

A thought suddenly entered her mind, and she became frightened. Her feet stopped moving. Then, the wondrous world she saw a second ago became dreary. No one liked a cheery girl like her. That meant her love wouldn't like her either.

"No…" she whispered, tears forming. "If that's true then…"

"Gumi?"

Gumi turned around to see it was her mom. "I just went to the supermarket," her mom continued, seeing it was her daughter, "so what would you like for dinner?"

The two continued to have a lovely mother and daughter conversation right up to the front door. However, the mother did not hear her daughter's last words before they entered the house.

"I'm sorry."

(( A/N: It's been a long time, hasn't it? OTL Well... I'm really hoping I will be able to update more.

Putting that aside, I hope you all are okay with Gakupo. I couldn't really think of another character... or rather, too lazy to... so yeah...))