AN: I don't own any of these characters, as TGMS belongs to Komani

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"Himuro-sensei, she won't be coming in today." A pale lavender brow rose at the neatly penned paper held out to him by the normally quiet boy. They both knew exactly who Hazuki Kei referred to. "She asked me to turn in her homework to you," he added, and Reiichi regarded him for a moment before he took the assignment from the cool-eyed boy, who immediately took to his seat.

Checking the clock to confirm that he still had 15 minutes before class started, he decided to start correcting the assignment that was just given to him.

And realized he could not.

Hazuki Kei.

The "prince" of Habataki High. All in all he was a model student, if one could ignore the occasional sleeping during the tests and in-class. He almost always scored high on the tests, worked a part-time modeling job - which only added fuel to his already raging popularity - and managed to excel in his extracurriculars as well. Reiichi's only likely complaint about the boy was his inclination towards introversion - but the rest of the female body didn't agree. To them, it only added to his mystique.

Not that he couldn't see why the teen wanted his won space, but for such an iconic high school figure, he would have expected the boy to simply be more outgoing.

Especially when the whole female student body was too intimidated to even approach him for something as simply as a walk home. They had no problem ogling over the teen's appearance, his every picture in the magazine, and sometimes even following him during his outings - a frightful fact, in Reiichi's eyes. Yet for all their admiration, there was not a single girl in the whole of the school's population who could boast walking home with Hazuki, let alone go on dates with him.

He knew why, of course.

He'd once heard the girls of his class compare the color of Hazuki's eyes to a jewel, with the intention of making it complimentary. Some of them had been bold enough to say it to his face, and he would have to be blind and ignorant of aestheticism to appreciate the beauty of the boy's eyes (especially when they were featured so prominently in the Habataki News).

Himuro would have hated the comparison.

Apathy paled the boy's eyes to the color of a peridot gem.

Made them glassy.

Hard.

Untouchable.

Untouchable and unattainable.

Reiichi knew that was part of Hazuki Kei's mystique, and largely why the students put him on such a high pedestal.

Yet, lately, those perfect peridot eyes darkened to a more passionate chrysolite. When the boy was in the middle of sketching something in the back of the room, even Reiichi could notice the shift in his temperment, a change in the coolness that made Hazuki Kei such an ideal target for admiration.

Just as he knew he was wrong about no girl being able to catch the eye of Hazuki Kei.

He noticed her, after all, on that first day of school when he'd told her to fix her scarf. It took more than a mussed scarf to catch the eyes of Himuro Reiichi. And, as was his way, he continued to observe.

The change in her test scores when Hazuki hadn't exactly been impressed after their first exam and she ranked seventy-ninth, and he easily claimed first-place.

How much harder she'd thrown her self in her studies, took time to take care of her appearance just enough so she didn't look as harried as when she first started school. How she'd practiced her flute-playing, never missing a single band practice, and even putting in extra time. She spent more time in her academics and extracurriculars than most students did, even putting in hours on the weekends when others were running around shopping, dating, and doing whatever else teens did. She'd even snagged a part-time job in a cafe.

And he certainly couldn't deny that, quite a few times as he was walking to his Masetari, he saw her catch Hazuki's attention long enough for her to ask him to walk her home.

He noticed when the dynamics changed, as sometimes her schedule would be quite busy and she might not give a certain boy the attention he wanted for a length of time.

He noticed Hazuki Kei wait by the school gate, sometimes by the roadside, for her to come running out of a late session in art, band or maybe a quick impromptu study group, only to ask her to walk with him.

The fact that Hazuki addressed her after that first exam - despite her less than spectacular score, and before that during their first school sports meet spoke volumes.

That he continued the association said even more.

"Hazuki." The boy looked up at hi. "Is she well?"

There were some rumors circulating that Hazuki Kei had been spotted with a petite, unspectacular female in the forest park. Quite a few about sightings in the Planetarium and the movie theatre when Verocity of Light and Spinning were showing, and while both these locations were discredited because the darkness made them difficult to confirm, he did not doubt it.

He'd seen them, after all, watching the fireworks together, she in a charming pink yukata, while he was garbed in a simple white kimono.

And again spending New Year's Day together at the temple.

There was no mistaking the change in those peridot eyes, a shift in that glassy look.

"She's still pretty sick, so it'll take her some time to get better, Himuro-sensei." A concerned look took over the boy's normally neutral face. And although his words addressed his teacher, his mind was clearly on something else.

Glass darkening with growing intensity.

"But she will be."

Chrysolite.

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More AN: I really do enjoy this game, especially getting Hazuki Kei. ^_^ Even though I don't understand a word of what's going on, just their expressions speak volumes.

It would be nice to know what you all think, even if it's just a quick note of enjoyment or disapproval.