Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it.

Author's Note: Sorry for this crazy late update, everyone! I feel pretty awful about it. I wish I could update as quickly as I used to, but things have started to pile up and have gotten ridiculous. -_- I will try my hardest to get these updates posted asap, but I can't make any promises. The baby shower I've been planning is this weekend (I have to go help set up in like ten hours, but I'm staying up late to get this up! haha) so that'll be out of the way, but I just started A New Beginning so that's taken up a lot of time hahaha (speaking of, for those of you playing as a girl, which bachelor are you going for? I can't decide! :P). Beyond that, I put a lot of work into this chapter and it's the second to last chapter about the first semester of Lillian's senior year. It is a bit short however, and focuses on just a handful of characters, but I have already started writing the next one because it has a big event~ so that'll take up space haha, and I didn't want this chapter to be like 15,000 words. :P And beyond that, I hope you all had a good Halloween and couple of weekends and weeks and had a nice time voting or watching the election? Hahaha, whatever it was you all did! (: Thanks for keeping up with this story even after the long delay, and thanks for the sweet words of encouragement and checking up on me and everything, it's really appreciated. I have a poll running on my profile right now to decide what pairing(s) I'll be writing a story for after this one and/or Daffodil, so vote there and I'll start drafting a story so when I do write it the chapters don't come as slowly! :P I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I hope you have a great weekend everyone!

"…Hi Ash."

"Hi."

"Hey Lillian!"

"Hello!"

"Let's go."

Ash caught Lillian's wrist and pulled her forward, but Dirk swung his arm out, blocking his path. "You're not going to hold my hand too?" he asked.

Lillian made a face at his words, but Ash's scowl alleviated for just a moment – for those fleeting seconds he looked like he was smiling at Dirk's words. But then he knocked his hand out of his way and said, "Try to be productive and not hold us back, would you? We don't have all day to pick out decorations."

"What else do you two have to do?" Dirk asked, his eyes a little suspicious. "You two make some sort of plans?"

"No," Lillian answered, avoiding his eyes. She felt guilt clawing at her. Even though she spoke the truth, she knew what image he had in his mind of what the pair could possibly be up to afterwards and felt ashamed that it was a genuine chance. "And stop being so difficult. Let's move along."

Dirk smiled when he saw that his words had gotten to her and fell into step behind her as they entered the party preparation store. Inside were piles and piles of abandoned decorations that hadn't been used during the Pumpkin Festival. Dirk kicked a pile of hollowed out plastic pumpkins and said, "Why do we call it the Pumpkin Festival anyways? It's just about giving kids candy."

"Dunno," Ash replied. "Most of the festivals here don't make any sense."

"Snow Festivals are pretty clear cut."

"What's the point of the Starry Night Festival, though? There are stars out every night."

Dirk offered his once upon a time friend a very disappointed look. "Bring this subject up with me after winter is over, alright? Depending on what you actually do that day, it might have a pretty great point." His eyes darted momentarily towards Lillian and then he kicked a stray pumpkin back into the pile and moved on.

For someone who must have been scolded fiercely by the Oracle, he seemed pretty chipper. He was even up to making efforts to continue his recent decision to treat Ash with slight friendliness, though their idea of making nice was more often a little malicious. Lillian let Ash pull her along, but she found her eyes drifting to Dirk as they walked, wondering just how he managed to look absolutely fine when the continued defeat of Konohana and the Oracle's anger must have been pestering him.

As Ash ran his finger along a row full of various shades of green streamers, Dirk sighed and turned to Lillian. "What is it?" he said. "Your staring is getting unnerving."

"Uh…" Lillian drifted off, feeling Ash's eyes on her as well with Dirk's latest comment. "Um, how are things going with your club? The officers, I mean. Are they all…getting along?"

Dirk raised an eyebrow and then lifted his hand to nudge Ash's towards a pack of pale green streamers. "That's his favorite shade," he said, forcing Ash's attention back to the decorations. "And yes, as far as I know. You know something I don't?"

Lillian was initially relieved to see that he was at least going to be concerned about the club after her vague remarks, but saw when she looked back to him that his eyes were teasing. How much did he care about his club, anyways? Wasn't the win important to him?

"Hey…why do you want to win?"

"Do you realize how rarely you answer my questions?"

"Oh. Sorry."

Dirk smiled at her and tilted his head to the side. Ash pulled two packages of pale green streamers from the shelves and dumped them into the small basket he had grabbed at the entrance. "I don't have a huge reason for wanting to win anymore. It's not as important as it used to be, I guess. Anyways, let's go."

He turned and walked down the aisle, and Lillian and Ash exchanged a look. "Didn't he used to…get really into winning?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ash murmured, his eyes narrowed. "I was the one who said something about how he'd always want to win, didn't I? For him to not care about his latest loss…he didn't even look particularly disappointed yesterday…"

"Hurry up!" Dirk called from the aisle's end. "I found a green Happy Birthday banner."

The pursuit for the perfect decorations continued for another hour, but the boys grew angrier and angrier at each other as those sixty minutes drew by. They couldn't agree on whether or not they should buy the palest shade of green or a darker tint, the long stretching banner or the shorter one to hang above a mantle and they couldn't agree on who should walk next to Lillian when she stood next to the shelves and they couldn't agree on who should command the conversation. Lillian found herself changing the subject more often than not in hopes that something would convince them to shift the biting tone of their conversation.

"Look, just get these paper lanterns," Dirk finally snapped when he could take no more, his voice full of exasperation as he shoved a box towards Ash.

Ash didn't let go of the spiral decorations he had chosen. In fact, he used his box to knock Dirk's out of the way. "They'll make Reina's house too cluttered. Just stick to these."

"It's Hiro'sbirthday, so you should pick things he likes more."

"I don't think he wants so many decorations they're falling all over him. The lanterns are just one long string that would have to stay in one room, but these can be spread all around the house."

Dirk's eyes narrowed, and Lillian bit her lip and watched to see who would back down first. "I'mHiro's friend, alright? I know what he wants."

"You and Hiro hardly even talk anymore, I wouldn't say that makes you friends," Ash pointed out, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, because you are obviously as close with all of your friends now as you were at the beginning of the year. Like Georgia, for example."

Something in that statement definitely struck Ash. Lillian's eyes widened at the heavy scowl that crossed his face and the shame that forced him to look at the ground rather than Dirk. He passed the basket off to Lillian and mumbled, "I'm going to take a walk so I don't…I'll be right back, alright?"

"Okay," Lillian replied, her voice soft and worried as she accepted the basket and watched him stalk off in the other direction, hands in his pockets. Dirk already looked a little guilty, with his own hands in his pockets and his eyes downcast. Lillian spun on him anyways, unwilling to let his remark slip away.

"What happened with him and Georgia that you're getting at? We've all been having some difficult times with Georgia lately and Ash doesn't deserve to get the total blame for-"

"He made her cry. Yesterday, right before the club competition. I was surprised to see him leave you to go sit with her, so I was paying a bit more attention and I saw…" he drifted off, shrugging and refusing to look Lillian in the eyes. "I saw her start to cry and assumed he did something wrong. Lillian, I didn't mean to be a jerk, but what he said about Hiro-"

"Is the truth!" Lillian snapped, perfectly willing to interrupt him a second time. Her vehement defense of Ash surprised her as much as it shocked Dirk. "You and Hiro have been weird ever since the photograph incident with me. I don't know why-"

"Would you just take my side for once?!" Dirk leaned towards Lillian, his eyes full of hurt and frustration, and put one hand against the shelf behind her. "I didn't want things between me and Hiro to get to this point, but we've both had a lot on our minds and…and…why is it okay for Ash to point out my messed up friendship but not okay for me to do the same? Couldn't you just…just get with him already and stop pulling me along?"

Lillian's eyes widened, and she turned her head so she didn't have to meet his eyes. Dirk's voice had risen to a level that caught the attention of nearby shoppers, and Lillian felt humiliation and guilt and frustration rise up in her like bile. His hand fell from its blockade and she began to walk towards the cashier, but was caught – caught as she was always caught – by Dirk. His hand was wrapped around her wrist the same way Ash's had been.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I'm sorry…I know you're going to take his side. He's your best friend, and he's your…I'm sorry. I just…hate being a third wheel on your date."

"It's…it's not…"

Dirk squeezed her wrist and then let go, taking the basket from her. He tossed in the decorations Ash had chosen, but the lanterns he had picked out were already back on the shelves. "He has the money anyways. Let's go wait for him by the cash register."

"…Dirk…"

"Forget about it for now." He turned a forced smile towards her and reached out for her wrist before quickly retracting it, as though suddenly realizing what he had been about to do. "Let's get going," he murmured, turning away once more. "We don't have all day to pick out decorations, after all."

"Well…at least they actually talk to each other now, right?" Laney dug her tidy fingernails into the skin of an orange and tore a chunk off. "It used to be they'd just stare each other down, or get close to an actual fight every time they were near each other. They're trying."

"I know," Lillian mumbled. She held her hand out for the discarded orange peel and dropped it into her empty plastic container, once filled with grapes. Being so used to Laney's frequent snacks, she had taken to bringing some of her own as well. Lately Laney had brought a myriad of her infamously sour oranges, so Lillian tried to bring something a little sweet to balance it. "I just wish they didn't put me in the middle of it."

"I don't think they intentionally put you in the middle of it, to their credit. I think it's just…the three of you are the only people who can understand each other so well, and so they're probably seeking out the wisdom of the only other person who knows what their friendship was like."

Lillian hesitated, taking the orange slice Laney offered, and then smiled. "You sounded pretty wise just now."

"Those were actually Cam's words. We were talking about this last night," she admitted, giggling at her reveal.

Lillian laughed as well, but she quickly zoned in on Laney's words. "Last night? Were you guys talking on the phone, or-"

"He came over for dinner." Lillian gaped at her, and Laney grinned in reply. The brunette's mind had flown to the idea of a date or at least some sort of meeting, but this was even better. "I know!" Laney burst out, full of excitement. "Dad said he missed him. It was a little awkward, but dad really does look at Cam like he's his son, so he felt a lot better seeing that Cam was doing okay. He told me last night that had Cam not gotten a place to stay, he probably would have begged one of his friends to loan him a place or scrape together the money for him to return to the city. I knew it…I knew dad wouldn't just abandon him."

A satisfied, relieved smile remained on Laney's face even as she bit into the same tart orange Lillian's face was puckering at. "Do you think he'll let him move back in at this rate?" Lillian asked, wishing she had saved one of her sweet grapes to amend the sourness that hung in her mouth. Laney's oranges seemed to be doing their best to make up for her typical gentility.

Laney paused, holding a sliver of an orange peel above the container, as though choosing her words. She relaxed her fingers and the peel slipped into their makeshift trash can. "No. I don't expect him to let him move back in…and I'm not sure if I want Cam to move back in, anyways. The way I lied to my dad, the way Cam and I broke up…it's hard acting so normally with him. Being in the same house as him again…it would be really, really, really awkward."

Lillian watched her friend sympathetically and nodded, deciding to change the subject when she saw Laney's eyes drift away. "Does your dad know that you two broke up?" she asked instead.

"Not yet."

"Why not?"

Laney smiled, getting to her feet and taking the container of trash with her. "I don't want him to worry about me anymore than he already is," she told her friend, and then she walked towards the trash can and returned with a completely composed expression. Lillian smiled back at her and put the empty container handed to her in her bag. Every day she found new reasons to admire Laney.

"Thanks for talking to me about this all, by the way," Laney murmured, pulling her knees up to her chest when she sat against the wall beside Lillian once more. They both glanced at the clock, but they were so used to this daily occurrence by now that they already knew a minute and ten seconds was left of break. "Lately I can't really...well, I spend a lot of time with Georgia even though things are awkward between everyone, but I try not to stress her out anymore than she already is."

"It's no problem. You can talk to me about anything," Lillian told her, smiling. She frowned as she considered Georgia's state, however. "Do you know what's going through Georgia's head right now? I know that she's had some issues with the club and...well, with Ash too, I think..."

Laney offered up a sympathetic expression and shrugged. "I've got the same information you do, to be honest. I don't have the courage to ask Georgia what's going on and she's not offering up any facts right about now. Georgia is the kind of person who unfolds at a really natural pace - she wouldn't just open up about something. Instead, she'll let the information trickle out when the time is right. I just hope that time comes soon, really. I'm tired of having to see her sad. I miss her laugh."

They looked at each other and back to the clock, watching as the remaining seconds ticked by. "Me too," Lillian murmured. "I do too."

Lillian didn't see the Oracle until their class together, which was strange. Usually every Monday morning the lively girl would bound up to her friend and ask how her weekend had gone – even if they had spent part of the weekend together. But this Monday was different. The Oracle was not the lively girl she usually was as she slumped over her desk. Kana was equally despondent – his arms dangled over the front of his desk and his face was pressed firmly into the wood. Dirk just shrugged when Lillian looked at him and said, "Dunno. He was like this when I came in."

Considering she had taken the time to comfort Kana before and never gotten a chance to hear from the Oracle, Lillian now turned to her and said, "Hey…how was your weekend?"

The Oracle glanced at her as if not believing she was the one being addressed and then smiled. "It was fine. How was yours?"

"Good."

"That's good."

Dirk glanced between the two of them as a silence foreign to any conversation with the Oracle trickled in. He frowned towards the Oracle and asked, "What's wrong? You seem down for some reason."

Lillian's eyes widened, but when the Oracle looked at her she shook her head. Lillian had spent the Saturday before wondering why Dirk seemed undeterred by what she assumed had been some pretty rough chastising, but it appeared that wasn't the case at all. She had actually…not said a thing to him? "Why?" Lillian asked aloud before she could stop herself.

"Well, just look at her," Dirk said.

The Oracle smiled at her and said, "Later." Mr. Hamilton took charge of the class at that moment, and Dirk could easily assume she meant they would talk later – but Lillian knew better. Something was going on.

"Kana!"

The boy snapped up at Mr. Hamilton's voice and nodded, sighing as he begrudgingly pulled a pencil from his backpack.

Something was going on with him too.

"What's up?"

"Nothing," Lillian mumbled. Ash walked silently beside her, avoiding the leaves as he always did. Lillian didn't know how to even begin explaining what was going on to him – how was she supposed to wrap him up in Konohana's issues? Wrap him, the Bluebell president, up in the other club's conflicts? She didn't know how to out Hiro's positon as a buzzer, she didn't know how to talk about the Oracle's anger, and she didn't want to explain how Dirk's decision to help her over his club had cost him the respect of his friends. So she didn't say anything. The look on her face silenced Ash just this once, and he didn't ask any further questions about how she was feeling. It seemed that in this case she, like Georgia, would wait until the time was right.

They continued to walk like that for a few more minutes, Lillian trudging through the dead leaves and Ash dancing along the sidewalk to avoid them, until she finally blurted out, "Why do you do that?"

"Sorry?"

"Why do you always avoid stepping on the leaves when you walk?"

Ash looked so surprised he stopped in his tracks, crunching a leaf that had turned from gold to brown. "Because…you told me to," he said.

"What? I never…"

"When we were kids," Ash explained. "I used to step all over the leaves. Back in fifth grade. It drove you crazy, since you hated the sound. So one day you turned and you grabbed my hand and squeezed it as tight as you could and told me to never step on another leaf again." He looked down at the leaf that he had squashed with a teasingly apologetic look.

Lillian was stunned. "And…you…just kept on…?"

Ash turned a sheepish expression in the other direction. "Well, I was afraid that if I bothered you too much you would stop wanting to hang out with me. We were just kids, after all. And now it just…comes naturally. I feel weird if I step on a leaf."

They stood like that for a few seconds longer, with Ash looking off towards the clouds that hid the sun and Lillian staring at him. Finally she smiled and held her hand out to him. "Hurry up," she said. "But don't step on any leaves."

He smiled and took her hand, nodding. "If that's what it takes to keep you around," he said, laughing when her cheeks flared up.

"Just come on!" she laughed, pulling him along faster as he took premeditated steps through the piles of leaves and she crushed enough for the both of them.

"Thanks for coming," Reina said on Tuesday afternoon when Lillian showed up at her house with Ash and Cam in tow. "And...what's up?"

"Nothing important," Lillian sighed. Once again she had been unable to figure out what was causing Kana to remain in an unresponsive state for the first ten minutes of class and once again the Oracle had managed to escape her questions. She wasn't sure when she would finally get the chance to understand her friends as well as she once had, and that made her as despondent as them. "Here's all of the decorations."

Reina glanced at her for a moment, but nodded and took the bag held out to her. Reina, who had been baking feverishly with Laney in the home economics room during lunch breaks, hadn't gotten a chance to retrieve the decorations before, and had decided a group meeting at her house to check them out was the best bet. Unfortunately, Laney had other plans. So now it was set up for the perfect double date, and that troubled Lillian. She couldn't help but glance between Cam and Reina, who smiled at each other when they met eyes. The dark haired girl dusted off her dress in a nonchalant manner when she saw Lillian looking at her and said, "Well, thanks for picking them up for me. I really appreciate it. Was Dirk busy?"

"Ah, yeah. Him and Laney both couldn't make it, it seems."

All three of them looked at her doubtfully, but none of them bothered calling her out on her obvious lie. Lillian didn't know how to go about inviting Dirk to spend time with her and Ash again after the Saturday shopping debacle. At least that's what she told herself when she looked at him and suppressed the constant guilt she felt. Dirk didn't want to feel like a third wheel, and the moment she knew Laney wasn't coming, she could almost hear him say, "I didn't want to be a fifth wheel either, Lillian." He would flick her on the forehead and smile, but he would hurt - and Lillian couldn't let that happen. She sighed, her shoulders rising and falling in worry, and her friends exchanged a look.

"Check out the decorations we picked out," Ash said, gesturing pointedly to the bags. "I think we picked up some nice things."

Reina nodded and hastened to open the bag, pulling out the assorted streamers, banners and more. Every time she pulled an item from the bag she passed it off to Cam, who smiled in an affectionate manner towards her even when his arms were loaded down with stuff. Finally she swept the bottom of the bag with her finger tips and pulled out 18 G. "You guys really went all out," she murmured, a crooked smile on her lips. "I appreciate it. I'm sure Hiro will like it."

She managed to compose herself well for the rest of the planning of Hiro's party as she talked about how she would set up the streamers and what she wanted to buy and all the things she needed to do, but Lillian could feel the anxiety beneath her words. Knowing that Hiro had confessed to Reina made her feel like they now had a bit of a bond - both girls had people they were very close to that had feelings for them that they had to decline. When Lillian found herself wishing Reina would change her mind, it only churned her own guilt more viciously about her weak stomach. Finally she excused herself, asking if she could check out the garden for a moment, hoping the fresh air would remind her that she wasn't Reina and her situation was not hers either.

There were signs propped up all about the new plethora of wildlife Cam and Reina had sowed together, etched with each of their handwriting. A bag of daffodil bulbs was propped up next to a patch of clear soil, waiting to be planted, and Lillian smiled as she knelt before it and prodded the bag.

"Daffodils are supposed to be planted in the autumn, so we have to plant them as soon as possible. Winter is practically here already, and we really want them to survive until the next year."

Lillian jumped at Cam's voice and laughed when he crouched down beside her. "You scared me," she said. "What are you doing out here?"

"I just came to chat," he said. He smiled at her when she turned a teasingly doubtful look towards her and shrugged. "We're worried about you. You look a little out of sorts."

She sighed and shrugged, searching for the proper words. Cam knew her well enough that to simply say, I can't handle not being able to help my friends, would explain it, and she knew that he wasn't the type to press on for concrete explanations, but something still kept her lips pursed. To give voice to her worries and anxiety was to make them real, and she was reluctant to set these feelings in stone just yet. She finally shook her head and said, "Let's talk about daffodils some more instead."

Cam smiled at her once more and nodded. He didn't hesitate for a second, and launched into his reply with confidence. "Daffodils usually bloom in the late winter or early spring, so they'll be some of the only flowers around at that time. Me and Reina have a bit of a bet going on. They say the person who spots the first daffodil of the spring will have a lucky year, so we agreed that if she saw the first daffodil I would go to a tutoring class with her to prepare for college exams, but if I saw the first we would go to a floral class after school together. Even though she's so worried about her entrance exams, I think she's hoping I win too."

Lillian smiled, but felt a prick of worry. "You two are growing to be really close," she noted. "That must be fun."

"We're close," Cam said, meeting Lillian's eyes and holding contact for a moment. "But not as close as Laney and I, if that's what you're worried about." He rose to his feet and dusted off his pants legs before holding a hand out to her, laughing at her dumbfounded expression. "Come on. If you keep looking so sad, you'll only worry them more. So cheer up for the afternoon."

Lillian couldn't help but laugh at this roundabout way of cheering her up, and let him pull her to her feet. "Thanks for coming to talk to me, Cam," she murmured, feeling a little embarrassed. Lillian couldn't recall many times that she was being comforted by a friend, and it felt a little strange.

Cam grinned and shrugged, turning back towards the sliding glass door that led to the living room - to Ash and Reina. "Well, everyone needs a bit of cheering up sometimes."

They walked in together and Lillian took her seat beside Ash on Reina's couch once more, and Cam sat down in an armchair beside Reina's, and their conversation picked up right where it had left off - but this time, Lillian didn't have trouble focusing on the task at hand.

The Oracle managed to avoid Lillian for the rest of the week, showing up late to class and leaving early to rush off to her club and vanishing during all other times. When Lillian questioned Dirk about it, he shrugged and mumbled, "She's probably spending time with Mikhail or something, I don't know." Similarly, Georgia and Kana were often missing as well. Lillian never saw them together, but they both showed up equally late to everything. Neither of them looked happy when they did make appearances. Georgia stuck with Laney and didn't say much. Ash avoided her as much as possible. Cam and Mikhail tried to play neutral, and Lillian never got the chance to. Georgia tried to not even look at her. Kana was exhausted when he showed up for class, and walked around with a thick melancholy cloud about him constantly. Laney, Cam, Mikhail and Ash did their best to ensure Lillian that she had nothing to do with the troubles of any of the three, but she felt like she had a part in at least two of them.

On Friday when the clubs were notified that there would be no competition this week – they were still working on the exciting semester finisher, apparently – she hoped she'd be able to catch the Oracle or Kana to find out at least a little bit of what was going on, but they tore out of the classroom at the end of the period as though someone was chasing them. Had Dirk not caught the back of her jacket and stopped her, Lillian probably would have chased them.

"It's not your fault, you know. Maybe a little, but…not enough to get so down about."

"Reassuring."

Dirk sighed and walked with her towards the classroom door. "Come on, Lillian. Whatever is bothering the Oracle…it's probably got more to do with me than you. And whatever's bothering Kana and Georgia…well, that's probably more Ash than you, too. At least for Georgia. Goddess knows what's got Kana so depressed. But you can't take the total blame for everything. Other people are a little deserving of it."

"But why is it always the three of us that cause so many problems?" Lillian fretted as they walked through the packed halls, Dirk struggling to ensure nobody jostled Lillian in the slightest. "We cause problems for each other and for other people constantly. Why is that?"

She didn't get an answer until Dirk got them out of the packed hallways – hallways both of them were unfamiliar with, considering they usually didn't have to mix with all the students, and only the seniors at the end of the day. They stood in the rear courtyard, the strange fountain and the makeshift football field nearby. "I don't know why we do," he said, kicking at the dirt and sending it splaying all around them. "We've got unfinished business, I guess. And it's screwing up everyone else too."

"Unfinished business," Lillian repeated. "How so?"

Dirk fixed her with an annoyed look. "Take three guesses. Come on. Or we could play hot and cold. Go ahead and start."

"Don't be a jerk."

"Of course," Dirk sighed when he turned to see Ash behind him. "You always know exactly when to show up, don't you? I swear, you must have a tracker on Lillian-"

"I'm looking for you," Ash sighed as well, shaking his head. "We have to help construct some of the stuff for the club competition, since both of us our presidents. The vice presidents are supposed to help too, but I have absolutely no clue where Georgia is…"

"I don't know where Hiro is either," Dirk admitted. Both boys looked a little ashamed of themselves and had a hard time meeting the others eyes. "Who are you going to walk home with then, Lillian?"

"Uh…"

Ash looked at her apologetically, and looked ready to offer some sort of solution when two hands landed on Lillian's shoulders and a voice cooed, "Me! I'll be the one to escort Lillian home. I'll be her knight in shining armor."

Dirk's eyes widened, and he stumbled over his words for a moment. "You…where were you earlier? I looked for you and I…couldn't find you…"

The Oracle leaned around Lillian's shoulder and smiled at him. "Don't worry about it Dirk. I just had some errands to run. Now you two boys should run off and play nice or this girl will probably cry." The girl appeared to be full of her usual energy as she squished Lillian's face together in a laughable expression, only none of them were laughing. She may have looked full of energy again, but there was still something noticeably off about her.

"Well…call me later then. Please," Dirk stressed, holding her eyes for a moment before kicking the back of Ash's shoe. "You lead."

Ash swept his foot back and stamped on Dirk's, winking back at the boy when he yelped. "Right this way," he said.

"I strongly dislike you," Dirk said, but he was smiling a little as he walked off. Maybe, Lillian thought hopefully. Maybe history, maybe mutual friends, maybe fate had a way to bring those two friends together again. If they were smiling even while fighting, that had to be a good sign. It just had to. Both of them waved at Lillian and the Oracle as they entered the school, and Ash and Lillian smiled at each other until he disappeared inside the school building. Dirk's smile faded when he saw.

The Oracle turned to Lillian and clapped her hands together. "Have you heard any rumors about this big, extra special competition? Because I have absolutely no clue what's going on."

"I haven't heard anything," Lillian murmured, her voice a little hesitant. She couldn't help but feel like she should exercise extra caution in this conversation. The Oracle looked close to tears. "Maybe Dirk or Ash will tell us."

"Dirk will probably tell you," the Oracle replied. Her voice was shockingly cool, and she looked apologetic the second after she spoke. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "That was unnecessary. Really, Lillian…I'm sorry about that…"

"Forget about it," Lillian told her, her voice gentle as she bit back the nerve that remark had struck. "Do you want to…tell me what's been going on?"

The Oracle smiled and sat down right where she stood, on the concrete that edged the school. She was sitting cross legged, but her dress was so long it covered her up completely. Lillian followed suit, taking a seat beside her. "I didn't tell Dirk about Hiro. You obviously know that. It's not that I don't want to scream at Dirk, and it's not that I think he doesn't deserve to be yelled at just this once. He said he would help me win this competition but…he's lost all of the ambition he once had to win, and that means he's just tossing my ambitions aside too, apparently. But I'm not saying anything despite all that. The reason I'm not doing it is because…I respect Hiro too much to do it, honestly."

"You…really?" Lillian asked. "I didn't know you two were close, I mean."

"We're not very close, really." The Oracle put her hands on her knees, shrugging. "We've never been close friends. But Hiro has always been a good friend to Dirk, and therefore he's been fairly kind to me as well. I used to be pretty good at spinning the tables on people and outing their secrets but lately…it's just not as easy as it used to be. I know how much Dirk means to Hiro, and I just can't bring myself to sever that relationship anymore than it already has been. Hiro is the type of person who does the right thing…no matter what. It must be killing him already to dock points. Why would I put him through anything more?"

Lillian thought back to how Hiro had taken the blame for Reina, but ultimately confessed to her that Reina had been the one behind it all. He had told her that he did it because he didn't want her to think that he had been hurting her all along and lying to her, and yet he had explained the situation so well it was actually difficult to be angry with Reina. He was a person who put others before himself, and couldn't stand the idea of people being upset with him. He was the type of person who would do the right thing. Even with his caution to not be a person who could be disliked, the position of hatred had been thrust upon him and he had been forced to take it up. Laney had done the same thing, hadn't she? It didn't make her any worse of a person. She docked points from them because it was the right thing to do. Hiro did the same. Even if it hurt.

"I understand," Lillian murmured. She understand who Hiro was, and she understood where the Oracle's reluctance stemmed from - perhaps not so much from fear of hurting Dirk, but fear of destroying one of Dirk's remaining friendships. Fear of hurting the person she cared for so. "But…what are you going to do about Dirk?"

"I don't know what to do," the Oracle admitted. "What is there to do? I tried to be angry at him and let him know I was angry, but I couldn't exactly do that without revealing the source of my anger, or I'd be acting rather unfair. It hurt me, though, that Dirk jeopardized what meant so much to me, but…I really can't be too surprised now, can I? He always wanted to be your knight in shining armor."

Lillian winced at this, but the Oracle smiled gently at her and said, "Let's not talk about this anymore. I want to hear all about you and Ash while we walk home. It looks like things are going well between the two of you. Have you told him that you like him yet?"

"No," Lillian blushed, shaking her head. She was reluctant to let the conversation change so swiftly - especially after spending a week agonizing over her inability to catch the Oracle alone - but was unable to deny the conversation change. The Oracle still had glassy eyes that looked prepared to leak any second. "I'm not planning on saying something like that anytime soon."

The Oracle laughed and said, "Why-"

"Hey! Has Hiro passed by here?"

Lillian turned to see Dirk leaning out a window a floor above her, squinting down. "No," she called back. "You can't find him?"

"No clue where he is. He might have already gone home." Dirk shrugged and then looked to the side. "Your boyfriend says that he hates you and doesn't want to see you ever again."

Dirk was pushed to the side, and Ash leaned out the window this time. "Ignore him," he said. "And if you see Georgia or Hiro on the way home, can you let them know we're up here?"

"Okay," Lillian called back, smiling up at him. "Have a good time, you two."

Dirk managed to squeeze out the window as well, pushing Ash up against the edge. "You too," he called back, smiling at her. "I'll see you on Monday."

They all waved at each other once more, and the Oracle sighed and then turned a smile to Lillian. "Never mind that question," she said. "I think I understand now." She didn't give Lillian a chance to ask questions, and instead skipped ahead, pointing excitedly to a bluejay that was waiting on a tree far ahead of them. Lillian looked over her shoulder and met Dirk's eyes as he watched them go, and he smiled at her once more. She returned it in kind, but only for several seconds before she took off after the Oracle, feeling like a child who had misbehaved. Luckily for her, the Oracle hadn't noticed. Or at least she continued to pretend she hadn't.