[Music Recommendation: "Interweave" by Chewie Melodies (Genshin Impact OST) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

"Hmf! I know. I'm not blaming him. I know he can't control what his fans do but I just want this to NOT happen again. You were never bullied back in our country. Even if Ken had lots of fans, they didn't do anything bad to you. This is the first time this is happening and I want it to be the last! Until that's guaranteed, I think you should stay home and I'll look for a safe place to transfer to."

"Hey, Hora. Please…"

"What if they do something worse? What if this is just a warning?"

"Let's calm down first and talk about this, okay? Please."

"You don't have to move out. I'll make sure this never happens again. I'll do something about it. Please," Kaiden pleaded with Hora.

"Let's all take a breather first, okay?"

Hora sighed deeply. She closed her eyes and worked with her breathing, to calm herself. Kaiden sighed as well, and pressed on his temples. I caressed their backs since it was the best I could do to calm the both of them. I didn't have water in handy which could have helped as well.

A few minutes passed by and at last, Hora's anger seemed to be subsiding a bit. Her face started to go back to its normal color. I felt relieved seeing that.

"I'm sorry for lashing out on you," Hora apologized to Kaiden. "It's just—haaah… I know you understand what I mean. It's not your fault but please control your fans. I don't know how but maybe the school can do something about it. I just want Sena safe and unhurt, please. Again, I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. I understand. And you're right. We just want the same thing," Kaiden sighed.

Then he opened the car and drove us home. The atmosphere remained heavy even when we reached home. Kaiden ordered the maids to fix my clothes as soon as we reached the doorstep of the house. That was nice of him. How I hope it could still be fixed.

After dinner, I invited Hora and Kaiden to my room to talk. I couldn't bear all the gloominess. And it was Friday! Tomorrow was Saturday! It was supposed to be a happy day since I'll be meeting with the screenwriter I'd be working with.

And so, the three of us talked in my room, with the two of them sitting in front of me.

"Hora, Kaiden," I called the both of them sternly, "this is nobody's fault, is that clear? So please, stop it with this gloominess."

"That's not true," Kaiden's face wretched. "I've been too complacent. I should have thought of all the possibilities that might happen. You didn't need to suffer something like this. I'm sorry."

"Kaiden, there is nothing for you to apologize for. What other people do is not your responsibility."

"Y-yeah," Hora shyly admitted. "I'm really sorry about earlier. I took my anger out to the wrong person."

"No, it was only natural for you to—"

"No, it's not right—"

"It's fine. I don't blame you—"

And so on, their never-ending apology started. Few minutes passed with just them saying sorry to each other and to me. Of course, I had to stop that or we would be in this loop until the next day.

I stood up and went to their side. Then, I embraced the both of them, much to their surprise.

"Please stop blaming yourselves. It's only hurting me more than making me feel better."

"No! I'm sorry!"

"We're not blaming each other anymore, right?"

"Y-yeah. Right."

They both nodded enthusiastically and I smiled at them.

"I'm really blessed with such good friends. Thank you both so much."

And so, they finally smiled and the heavy atmosphere was gone. Since it was Friday, we decided to play some games together before going to sleep. We played Monopoly and could you believe that Kaiden won three consecutive times? And we only played three times, so basically, he won all the rounds.

"Why do you have to be so good at everything? Can you pass some of your blessings to me?" I jested Kaiden.

"Oh, ahh… I can teach you."

"Ha-ha-ha-ha! I'm only joking. But that will be nice."

"One more time!" the competitive Hora was awakened. She kept on asking for more rounds.

Kaiden agreed and we played a bit more but got the same result. In the end, we both gave up on trying to defeat him.

"You should have let us win at least once," Hora pouted.

"Ha-ha-ha! Next time, I will."

"Actually no. Never mind. I will defeat you someday!"

After that, they both went back to their rooms with smiling faces.

'Haaah… At last, I can breathe now that they really made up.'

I bathed afterwards and prepared myself to sleep. I still had an appointment tomorrow.

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[PS. This part is a mini Kaiden POV - after they left Senara's room]

"Pst! Kaiden," Hora whispered as soon as we left Senara's room.

"Hm? Yes?" I asked. What could it be that she wanted?

"We need to talk about one last thing," she said, while covering her mouth and speaking sneakily. She probably didn't want Senara to know whatever it was.

"Okay. What is it?"

"Let's go somewhere quiet."

I agreed and we went to the garden outside, sitting over the couch. I waited for her to start the topic.

"Soooo," she said while crossing her arms, "how should we go about punishing those motherfudgers who bullied Sena?"

I was taken aback by what she said.

…

…

"Actually… I've been thinking the same thing," I confessed.

"Oh, I see you're a fellow connoisseur," she smirked.

She was finally showing her true colors. I should do the same then. I had been trying to hide my evil side since earlier. I didn't want to upset Senara more. But now that we're talking about it…

"Great! Ke-ke-ke-ke," she laughed evilly.

I ended up smirking the same—with my normal grumpy and evil looks.

"I have already laid out lots of plans in my mind since earlier."

"Me, too." Hora agreed, brushing her chin as she pondered. "There's no security camera inside the shower room since it's a private area. But we can check the ones outside—at the entrance."

"Right. Once we obtain evidence, we can raise it to the Dean and have them expelled."

"That's too easy. Ke-ke-ke-ke… I want them to suffer for hurting Sena."

"You need not say anymore," I scoffed menacingly. "How about letting their deeds be exposed to everyone? I can show it as a display and a warning that NO ONE should ever think about bullying her anymore. Or I will—"

Oops. I should suppress a bit of my evil side. I shouldn't scare Hora or she might think I'd be bad for Senara.

"Cough… cough… I mean, we can—"

"Oh, don't worry. I TOTALLY understand you."

For some reason, I thought of us being hooligans planning the demise of those people who dared hurt Senara. I didn't mind though. It was fun.

"How do we prevent this from happening again, though?"

"Plan A is the public display of their deeds. And I'm thinking of having Plan B as… hiring someone to be Senara's classmate. Then, they can be together all the time, or she can just sneak around while trying to protect her. I'd like to do it myself but there are areas I can't enter since I'm a man."

"And I'm not Senara's classmate, so I won't be with her all the time. Even if I was, look at what happened earlier. Hmf!" she pouted. "But yes. That sounds good. Just make it a secret so she wouldn't know. I feel bad about not telling her about this but she will probably not agree if she knows."

"That's true. If we're caught, we can apologize."

"Yup. Sena's really kind. She will forgive us. He-he-he."

"Right. In that case, we can carry it out like that."

"What can I help you with though?"

"For now, distract her and help me make alibis if she notices."

"Alright. That sounds good. Also, I'll try to think some more and see if I come up with a better plan over the weekends."

"Sure. Meanwhile, I'll start the investigation."

"Agreed."

After that, we went back to our rooms and I started calling my connections. I could try hacking the school system but it would only backfire on me when I got caught. Better to be safe than sorry.

Those girls… Haaah… My blood started to boil again. How dare they do that to Senara? I'd definitely make them pay. Ugh.

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Hello Pumpkins!

Hope you are all well!

I would just like to apologize to all of you for today because I can only publish 1 chapter due to my sickness. It's a common flu and I just needed some rest. Don't worry, I'll resume 2 chapters a day once I recover.

In return, I lengthened the chapters a bit and I hope you all enjoy it!

Have a great day ahead!

Lots of love,

Macy_Bae