Nagihiko leaned forward as Tadase re-entered the room, "What did she say?"

Before he could reply, Rima started taking her notes away from the table and shoving them into her bag. They both watched her curiously as she zipped her bag closed, and then she cleared her throat.

"I'm going home," Rima said suddenly. She must have noticed the look of surprise in his face because she added, "I have a toothache, so I'm going to visit the dentist."

"Ikuto says he does like her," Tadase replied anyway, and then he turned to Rima. "I'll walk you out."

Rima smiled at Tadase, kissing him on the cheeks before telling him it was 'fine' and 'thank you for having me here'.

Nagihiko looked at her, expecting the same treatment.

"What?" Rima asked him when he coughed as she reached for the doorknob. He gave her a pointed look and then her face turned red as she slowly understood what he meant. She rolled her eyes at him, "See you tomorrow, Nagihiko."

When she disappeared behind the doors, Tadase gave him a strange look.

"What?"

"She's my childhood friend and she practically lives in my house, of course she would think of me as a brother," Tadase rolled his eyes.

His face must have said it all, (he suspects this a lot since he can be such an open book sometimes,) when Tadase's face contorted into something akin to disgust, "Don't you make that face, you're a friend she just met for a year, don't go expecting a kiss."

Nagihiko rolled his eyes, pushing his notebook away from him as he suddenly felt too lazy to study.

"What are you going to do about Amu?" Tadase asked.

"Well, Ikuto said he likes her." He repeated, tossing his pencil away and then he fell forward to lean his head on the table. He wondered if Rima's tooth really hurt that much.

"Well, they are dating. Even so?" Tadase pushed, "You're okay wait that? You're going to give up?" Nagihiko made a disgruntled sound as he shrugged his shoulders as a response. "You don't even look like you care."

And Nagihiko agreed silently. Normally, a person would be shocked over that kind of news. He had been pinning over the pink haired girl since the day that he transferred into the academy, meaning over a year now.

Tadase had been his guide as they were on the same year, and they quickly got along. He managed to be friends with Rima because Tadase and she were always together, and sometimes he sees her with Ikuto.

He had asked why Tadase was much closer with Rima than Ikuto, even when it looked like Rima was close enough with the taller senior as she sometimes literally crawl into his lap (and Tadase's, for the matter,) when both guys play the playstation and ignore her. Tadase shamelessly replied while quoting Rima; 'Because I hate watching Ikuto run his hands all over my best friend in our dorm.'

He decided it's too much to handle the homework and the news over one sitting and then goes back home after eating dinner made by Tadase's grandmother.

. . .

It has already been two periods since the school bell rang, and he still hadn't seen the best friends. He tapped his pencil on his table as he looks outside the window to view the opposite building where the first-year, class A to C, hallway was located at.

And then he saw a flash of pink, the famous attribute of the Hinamori Amu. They were scattered in the field, wearing their P.E. uniform, and Rima was still nowhere to be seen.

Odd, the best friends were always together during class hours. He spent a few minutes watching Amu, but strangely enough, it didn't seem to feel right so he looked away.

During the lunch break, he finally caught Rima. Well, Tadase did.

Nagihiko was just returning from his trip to the bread shop when he spotted Tadase taking a stack of notebooks from another student. When Tadase was finally holding all, the student behind revealed to be Rima.

"Sorry for making you carry that, Tadase!" Rima said as they left the staff room, Tadase's ears were red, possibly from the staff. They do gossip a lot, Nagihiko thinks, he also knows how much truth their stories hold. "You really saved me there."

"Something like this is fine," Tadase replied, messing her hair and she laughed as they both walked towards his direction. Tadase had already spotted him, sending him a salute, but it wasn't until they were directly in front of each other that Rima spotted him.

"Ah," Rima blinked, the smile leaving her face instantly.

"Ah?"

And then a look of horror washed over her face, "Ack!"

"Ack?" Nagihiko repeated in disbelief, "Hey—"

"What are you two playing at?" Tadase asks in amusement as he lifted his arm up to look at Rima who was hiding behind him. "What's wrong with you, queen?"

"HEY," Nagihiko said before she could speak, "You've got some guts avoiding someone who was worried about your toothache."

"Oh," Rima said, peeking from behind Tadase. "My tooth?" She frowned at Tadase, who flashed her a knowing smile, "My tooth! Yeah, it's completely recovered. Thank you for your concern."

And then she ran away.

Tadase laughed while Nagihiko could not see how anything was funny. Unconsciously, his feet started walking towards the direction she had headed until he was running after her.

"Wha— Nagihi— Why are you following me?" Rima cried out in panic as she sped on faster.

"Because you are meaninglessly running away!" Nagihiko retorted.

"Well, if it's about Amu, I won't cooperate!" Rima replied, "We don't bother with each other's friends much!"

"Huh?" Nagihiko asked. "I don't understand what you're saying but first of all, she has a boyfriend, doesn't she?"

Right in front of him, Rima suddenly skidded into a harsh halt and then she stumbled, turning around to face him, "She's dating Ikuto now?!"

"Wait—" Nagihiko said at the same time she spoke and then they collided, falling into a heap of mess on the floor. He groaned as he pulled himself together, the throbbing pain in his elbows were distracting.

"Don't stop so suddenly—!" His voice was lost in his throat when he opened his eyes, watching Rima.

"Oow," she gasped, cradling the back of her head. She brushed her hair away from her face as she moved to sit and Nagihiko should have moved away but he did not, so her forehead bumped into his. Her eyes shot open and, even when her face turned red, he did not pull away.

Her hands moved to rest on the lower part of his face; blocking his nose and his mouth. "What are you staring at? Move back!"

"Have I ever told you how pretty you are?" He asked her when he took her hand away from his mouth.

"W-what?" Rima asked, her eyes swimming in worry. "Have you bumped your head too hard? I think we should go to the infirmary!"

"That I found out your sister was dating my friend," he started, "shouldn't I be hurt badly?"

"Oh!" Her face masked understanding, "Oh! Of course! I'm so sorry to hear that, purple-head. I honestly did not know that Amu was dating someone."

"I'm not hurt," he continued, "for some reasons. And right now you should stop opening your mouth because I can't look away from them, making it very hard for me to resist kissing you."

"Wha- But- I don't…" her brows shot up when he started to descend towards her and her hands slapped over her own mouth. He stopped just about a few centimeters from her hand, his lips grazing her knuckles.

"Get over it!" Rima hastily said, "We may be roommates and the best of friends, but I'm Rima!"

Nagihiko blinked, and he simply stared at her as she looked at everywhere but him. He thought of the time his eyes followed the best friends, and then wondered why he had never actually spoken to Amu or made the initiative to introduce himself when it was just an easy feat if he asked Rima.

He took in the redness of her cheeks, and then like a warm summer breeze, he finally understood.

"You think I don't know that?" Nagihiko gave her a smirk, getting off her and extending a hand to help her stand. She took it while watching him with a suspicious look, "What?"

"It's just that," Rima said, "You've got that look in your face that says you've just won the lottery."

"Maybe I did," he shrugged.

"But aren't you broken-hearted?" Rima frowned, "wipe that smile off your face!"

"I'm not."

Her mouth fell open and his eyes follow them, he pushed her chin up to close her mouth and she pulled away by taking two steps back. And then she shook her head, grabbing his wrist. "You've lost it. I'm taking you to the infirmary."

A/N: Any kind of reviews are loved! Even just a word, like 'good' or 'bad'. I really love reviews, and it pushes me to make more stories haha. Also, since its quite messy:

Basically, Nagihiko had a crush on Amu the first few days of his transfer. And then he got acquainted with Rima, who was always with Tadase (King and Queen, duh-ha-ha). Since Rima and Amu were always together, he thought he was watching Amu when in fact, he had been slowly falling for Rima.