This chapter is probably the hardest to write. King and Sice hardly fit the romantic image and I had to check again and again to make sure they're not OOC. But forgive me if they do. :/

'I talked to him! I talked to him!'

'He's so cool!'

The delighted squeals of the girls annoyed Sice. The silver haired girl poked furiously at her chicken fillet, remembering her failed attempts at confessing to Class 0's masked instructor cum teacher, Kurasame Susaya.

The first time she had attempted to write a love letter, Seven had, at the most unfortunate moment, appeared out of the same corner, causing Kurasame to think it was meant for Seven instead. It took Sice a full hour before she could convince Seven that the said letter was not meant for her.

Another letter never even got near to reaching Kurasame. She had placed the letter within the pages of her magic textbook, only for King to borrow it. By the time Sice remembered about the letter, King had already seen it. King had returned the book with a knowing smile on his handsome features, seemingly fighting the urge to contain his amusement. Embarrassed, Sice had immediately torn the letter.

'Are you going to mince that fillet, Sice?' A deep voice broke her train of thoughts. King had brought his lunch and proceeded to sit opposite her. Sice pouted at the sarcasm as she scooped some of the crumbs into her mouth.

King merely smiled as he ate his own lunch. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Sice finally spoke up, 'Hey King, what do guys look for in a girl?'

King arched an eyebrow at Sice's question; it was one question he did not expect from the tomboy Sice. 'Compatibility, I guess,' King slowly said, 'So what do girls look for in a guy?'

Surprised at the reversal question, Sice frowned for a moment before saying, 'Maybe dependability.'

'I see,' King chuckled but said no more of the topic.

…

The general aura around the school had lightened up substantially ever since the examinations ended. Sice, however, had her own worries with regards to the examination results and the impending holidays.

She had worked her hardest at the examinations, in the hopes of getting Kurasame to notice her or perhaps even praise her for her hard work. But it proved impossibly hard when you have walking encyclopedias (a.k.a Trey) and geniuses (a.k.a Ace) in your class. When the results were announced, even Sice herself had failed to notice her own scores in the midst of everyone else's brilliant ones. Even Jack, Nine and Cinque's abysmal scores shone brighter than her average ones.

The holidays are an even bigger problem. While Kurasame stayed at the Peristylium to handle certain military affairs, the lack of a class to teach meant that Sice's chances of meeting him will substantially decrease. Feeling that her one last chance at a successful confession lies before the term break begins, Sice cracked her head to plan out the perfect strategy.

She wanted desperately to seek out some advice from people like Jack or Ace, but her obstinate and proud nature had forbidden her. Instead, she had taken to sneaking out to the library in the dead of the night to read psychology and romance books. On her third night out, she had succumbed to her fatigue and fallen asleep at the library, only to wake up the next morning with a blanket covering her.

…

On the last day of class, Sice had deliberately packed her belongings extremely slowly such that when her excited classmates had rapidly vacated the room, she was left alone with Kurasame. The masked teacher was calmly rechecking a few reports on the teacher's desk, oblivious to Sice's lingering presence.

With her bones seemingly crushed under her nerves, she summoned every ounce of her strength to walk up to Kurasame, in her hands, a fresh envelope.

As Sice neared him, Kurasame finally looked up from his reports. Her hands were shaking when she handed him the envelope and her face, up to even her ears, were tinted pink. Without having to open the envelope, Kurasame understood what she meant.

'I'm sorry…' he whispered, genuinely regretful. His generally icy eyes exuded a rare concern for his student.

Sice gave him a defeated smile before stammering, 'I, I- … Happy holidays!' And with that she had turned her back and rushed out of the classroom.

…

She sat on the bench at Class 0's private backyard, watching the lush green leaves of summer sway gently at the warm breeze. In her solitude she relinquished the pain she felt, a single tear sliding down her pale cheek.

When the door to the private sanctuary opened, she quickly brushed off the traces of the tear and turned to face her visitor. King's tall, muscular figure accentuated the doorway. He had probably come to look for her after the class noticed her disappearance. Reading the atmosphere, King said nothing but sat down on the bench beside Sice.

His firm build provided Sice with a quiet but comfortable sense of security as she leaned on his shoulder. Slowly, the pain she felt found a new feeling to complement it; a sense of liberation. Now that her feelings had reached Kurasame, she would not be bound by probabilities anymore.

As she savored the comfort a while longer, Sice failed to notice the small, gentle smile that formed on King's lips.

…

Ever since that day, Sice took inexplicable solace in King's company. His calm and comforting presence made Sice forget all about her anguish. They spent a lot of time in the private backyard, sometimes chatting happily, other times simply taking comfort in each other's presence. King would sometimes practice on his guitar at the backyard as Sice listened to the melodious pieces.

Sooner than she had expected, Sice had returned to her former self; laughing and joking with their friends; bickering with Nine; teasing Deuce or Cater. It was hard not to with all the exciting plans the class had drawn out for their long break.

There was a trip to the Kingdom of Concordia where they rode on dragons, visited rustic Concordian villages and even went to a party at the royal palace in Mahamayuri, Concordia's capital. And then there was also that trip to Iscah, Machina and Rem's hometown, where they attended the renowned summer festival. The whole class ended up touring in pairs and Sice, being too used to being with King by then, casually grabbed him by the arm and went on ahead, leaving the awkward pairs of Machina and Rem, as well as Nine and Queen.

The summer seemed to have flashed by in the blink of an eye, but it had served its purpose. By the time school had recommenced, Sice was completely comfortable with facing Kurasame in class.

…

Sice headed down to the arena one afternoon to find King, Nine, Trey, Cinque, Jack and Seven already there. They were to be given an endurance test later that week which tests them on the strength of their wall magic while Kurasame hurls multiple magic balls at it. Judging from her classmates' defeated looks, most of them were struggling with the training.

'Ouch!' Cinque yelped when Trey's fireball grazed her as her wall magic disintegrates.

'Try to concentrate, Cinque,' Trey patiently advised her, 'That was just the fourth fireball.'

Cinque pouted and set up another magical barrier, readying herself for Trey's fireballs. Jack too was having as much trouble, groaning as Seven's icicle shattered his wall for the umpteenth time.

'What the hell!?' Nine complained, 'How did Ace's last so long anyway!?'

'Heh? How can you hope to compare your incompetent one to Ace's?' Sice smirked as she joined him and King.

Nine growled at Sice's snide comment and said, 'Bet yours can't last as long either.'

'At least it's better than yours.' Sice retorted confidently as she fired a thunderbolt at Nine's newly cast wall. The magical barrier immediately showed signs of cracking.

'Woi!' Nine shouted at Sice as she laughed. Teasing Nine had always been one of her favorite hobbies, and as much as they bickered and sneered at each other, the two remained very good friends.

Even King smiled as he said, 'Nine, it would be better if you just recast that.'

…

Training was arduous and loud shattering noises kept filling the Arena. By the time the sky grew dark most of them had given up and returned to the main building for dinner. Until at last, only King, Nine and Sice remained.

Nine sat at one side of the Arena, watching as King fired fireballs at Sice's wall magic. When it shattered, Nine shouted at them, 'Hey, how long are you two gonna keep this up?'

'You can go ahead first if you want to, Nine,' Sice spat at him, recasting the magical barrier.

King merely shrugged at Nine to imply the same, but Nine remained behind anyway. He continued to sit there, legs crossed, watching the cracks in the transparent wall grow larger with every fireball, until he suddenly remarked, 'Hey, are you two together right now?'

Sice's wall immediately shattered as her concentration broke. 'What!?' she shouted at Nine.

'Just askin',' Nine casually said with a smirk, 'almost everyone in class's a couple now. Thought you two are too considering all the time you spent together.'

Sice went speechless but King merely scoffed and said, 'Don't compare us with you and Queen. Heard you already bought her Christmas present?'

Nine went red at King's reply. 'What's with that rumor!?' he barked but did not pursue his previous topic.

Yet those words stuck in Sice's mind even until midnight. Surely people would not be expecting her to be a couple with King just because everyone already has their respective partners? She thought as she tossed around in her bed. She looked around at all the rest of the girls in her dormitory and began evaluating their respective relationships.

Seven is with Jack. The two had made it official ever since the term break and Seven understood Jack like none of his previous girlfriends. On the other hand, Jack also made the cool Seven laugh and relax more around him. Then there was Deuce. She and Ace is probably the cutest couple. Trey and Cinque never admitted to be officially dating, but considering how they were always together, their coupling came as a default for the rest of the class. Queen and Nine are always arguing with one another, but Sice could tell they are truly protective of each other. Machina and Rem? No arguments here. Those lovebirds must have been married since they were children, Sice thought.

Her mind then wandered to King. He is firm and dependable, much like Kurasame… but there is warmth in him that is never present in Kurasame. Smiling at the thought of King being masked like their instructor, Sice finally fell asleep.

…

With their hectic schedules, the days passed as though they were a passing wind. Therefore, when Kurasame announced a short break, the class was exhilarated.

'All of you did well for your test here,' Kurasame said, 'you can take the rest of the day and tomorrow off.'

This perked up all the students. 'Wait!' Nine exclaimed, 'When you mean "take the day off", does it mean no assignments as well!?'

'Did I give you any today, Nine?' Kurasame coolly replied. Cheers erupted in every corner of the class. They quickly made plans to go down to McTighe for some refreshments and shopping.

As the class scattered all around the shops in McTighe, Sice came across an intricate gun holster made of black leather. Immediately remembering King, she screened the area to show it to him. King, however, had gone somewhere with Trey and Jack, at least according to Carla. Such a waste not to get it, Sice thought, and soon she was paying for the holster.

She did not, however, get the chance to show it to him until late that night when they returned to the Peristylium. Before King could return to the boys' dorm with the others, Sice called him. She deliberately waited until all their classmates had dispersed into their respective dorms before handing out the gift.

'Here,' she said, 'I got this for you.'

King stared at it for a moment and then turned to her and said, 'You shouldn't have. This must cost quite a bit.'

'Not really,' Sice said, casually shrugging and yet inside, her heart pounded harder for reasons she vaguely understood. 'Just thought it looks good.'

'It does,' King agreed, 'Thank you.'

'Well,' Sice said, flustered, 'Guess I'd better get back.'

As she turned to leave, King grabbed her hand. Surprised, she turned to find King staring fixedly at her. 'King…?' she whispered. But King did not say a word as he drew her closer and closer, without letting go of his grip. As if by instinct, Sice closed her eyes…

…

When she got back to her dormitory, Sice immediately rushed to her bed and drew the curtains around her bed, ignoring all the puzzled stares and questions of her classmates. She could have sworn that her cheeks were burning redder than Suzaku's flag.

However, as she buried herself deep inside her blankets, she could not help but smile when King's image floated into her mind…