Balcony

Anadama stood before them with a glare sent towards the other man. He quietly beckoned Kosaki to stand besides him, which she obliged with no complaints.

"You know, someone really ought to keep you under watch."

"What's the problem, Anadama?" The other guy responded to him casually, as if they had known each other for a long time. "We're all adults here. Besides, it's not like you to care about your students."

"I'd rather not get myself in any trouble for not protecting them." He replied. Kosaki didn't understand what he meant by this. While she was a bit uncomfortable, there wasn't a point where she felt threatened or in danger by this person. Not while they were in such a public place. "None of them are from around here, so you're reputation isn't exactly known."

"I'm sure you let your reputation be known to them quite easily though." His familiarity with him seemed to also indicate Anadama's cold nature to be rather famous. "You're not like your father at all."

"Heh." He laughed. "Good." It was a badge of honor for the young man as he went to end the conversation. "Look, it's a free country and you can do as you wish. But I have to make the best decisions too and that means keeping young ladies such as Kosaki here away from you." The pair stared at each other for such a long time that it made her feel uncomfortable. Finally, the other man spoke.

"Have it your way." He shrugged his shoulder with a smug look on his face. "It's a big party, so you're not going to put a damper on my fun." With that, he turned and walked away from the pair.

"You… Came to help me." Kosaki was in disbelief about the situation. It only served to prove her suspicions about him, but Anadama brushed off the matter as if it were nothing.

"I just needed an excuse to get away from where I was." He eyed over where he had originally been sitting at. There was a clear line of sight from that spot to where they stood and he smiled seeing that the girl talking to him no longer was there. "Good thing girls don't like it when you abandon them to go save another one."

"You're not wrong about that." She laughed meekly at his joke. His statement reminded her of something long ago. Back when she was still in high school. There was that moment she had been hoping for when she'd be able to walk through that haunted forest with Raku. That they'd be able to hold hands, regardless of how awkward it may have been, together for the whole time.

But back then he had to basically abandon her. When he heard Chitoge was in trouble, he didn't stop to think of anything else, but going to rescue her. Perhaps she should've understood back then what that truly meant for her. "Thank you anyway, for helping me."

"Again, it's not like I was trying to help you." He responded in dumb fashion. The way this man acted reminded her a bit like Chitoge, actually. Perhaps it was because they were both half-American, but she noted the way they both got a bit flustered when dealing with others. "Man, I need to get out of this party. It's a drag." While she would disagree with his assessment of it being lame, she also had the feeling of wishing to find a break from dealing with a bunch of strangers.

"It's a shame there's nowhere to go." She commented, unsure of what her next plan would be. It appeared Chiffon had yet to return from cleaning her dress and she had no one else to talk to outside of Anadama.

"Actually, I do know somewhere I can go." He said. As someone who had attended this building multiple times, he had gotten a good idea of the lay of the land by now. "I was waiting a bit to keep up appearances, but I can probably use it." Anadama took one look at Kosaki, pausing to consider if he'd regret his next words. "You're free to follow me there. You look like someone who's not into this either. But you do want to go, then you'd better follow me now because I'm not waiting for you."

With that, he began walking without waiting for her to even say anything in consideration. Kosaki knew this was a good chance to be alone with him, but why would she want to do that? At the same time, this also gave her space from the loud crowd. So there was benefit to it regardless of who she would be joining.

"Wait up, I'll come." She finally spoke in impulse. He didn't allow her to think about it, which was likely for the best as she would normally get frozen up about tough decisions.

"Great." He sighed, hoping she wasn't going to take him up on the offer. Despite the fact that he was the one to offered it to her in the first place. Anadama then proceeded to guide them along the party, pretending to be a part of it until they slipped out at an opportune time.

He took her to a quiet area where most people didn't hang around. There was a glass door that was unlocked, allowing for the pair to step outside onto a balcony which had a beautiful view of downtown Los Angeles.

"Wow." She barely had words for what she saw. The summer night air kept her just warm enough even with the dress she had on. "This is wonderful."

"Eh, you get used to it." He commented, not as enthused about the place as she was. "Hopefully you take in a good amount of fresh air. Can't stay here forever after all." As much as he wished he could stay away from the party, or even just leave, Anadama knew he couldn't do that.

"Right, people are going to wonder where we went." She knew Chiffon would be searching for her once she returned from the restroom. That girl would most certainly be upset with her were she to find out she had ran off somewhere alone with him. "But, it's still nice of you to take me here."

"I only just let you know about it." He replied, leaning onto the railing. "There's nothing to it, you're just the least annoying person here right now." While he had put it as meanly as possibly, she was glad that some progress appeared to have been made. Anadama had softened up against her, even if only a little.

"I'm still glad anyway." She responded, taking a spot besides him as she looked up at the night sky. It didn't take long for her to notice something was missing. "Where are the stars?" She asked, scanning back and forth along the darkness above. "I don't see the moon anywhere."

"Too much light pollution." He answered. "The city shines bright, as they say, but maybe a little too bright." Anadama lamented the fact that being in the middle of downtown Los Angeles meant being unable to see the stars of the night sky. He'd much rather see those over the stars at the party right now.

"That's a shame." She replied, seeing him visibly upset about the matter. "You know, there's a place back home I know about. The view from it is stunning." Kosaki never showed anyone else that spot though. Only Raku was the one person fortunate to be made aware of its existence.

"I'd like to see that one day." She was caught off guard by his response. It didn't seem likely he'd be interested, but it appeared that he was. "Too bad that's never happening." Anadama shot over a glance towards her. A subtle reminder about the distance between them.

"You never know." What was she saying, she thought. The only person she had ever shown it to was Raku, but that was because of her feelings towards him. She never even took her own best friend Ruri there once.

"You're way too nice." He shook his head as if what she said was something to be disappointed in. "You're way too much like my dad."

"Isn't that a good thing? The being nice part, I mean."

"You're obviously the type of person who doesn't want to inconvenience anyone. Doesn't want anyone to be upset." Anadama paused, letting his words sink in. "You do so much that you forget about what's really important to you, for you. And in the end, you win nothing at all."

He shook his head again as the young man got off from leaning on the railing. "I don't know why I'm telling you this. I shouldn't care, but I can't stay quiet either." Anadama began to walk away, ready to return to the party.

"But you do care." She blurted out without thinking of any better way to express her feelings. "I mean." It was enough to get Kosaki all flustered again when he turned back to face her. "Clearly you're not like what everyone says you are."

"Why are you so nice to me!?" Anadama couldn't hold back what he had been feelings either. "It can't just be that you think I'm some secretly nice guy. I've been nothing but cold to you, to everyone, but you don't give up. So tell me, what keeps you after me? Was I really right that you don't like making enemies?"

"It's not that…" Explaining things were far from Kosaki's strong suit, especially with the eyes he had on. "I've… Known a lot of people. A lot of different people." She thought about her friends. As much as she loved them and held them dearly in her heart, she also knew everything that made them stand out. "I've met heirs to gangs, powerful families, models, I've even met a princess once."

"That… Huh." He put up a finger as a means to make what he would say next have more impact, but Anadama was awestruck with what she just said that it ended up frozen in the air as he thought about it. "Really?" He had heard people brag about meeting certain celebrities to stroke their own egos, but there was no indication of her words outside of stating them as a matter-of-fact.

"Yes." She nodded with a smile. "And even though I'm just some average girl. We still became friends and I think you're not that different from everyone I've met. That you're worth getting to know just like them."

"Wow." He was at a loss for words. Who was this girl, he wondered. All this time he had assumed she was some random Japanese girl who supposedly could bake, but his dad got it wrong. There was something about her he couldn't understand. "Well I don't have anything to counter what you just said, but I'm not conceding."

As expected from someone such as himself, Anadama was stubborn. "So I'm going to walk away and that's the end of the conversation." He took his first step, then interrupted her as she attempted to stop him. "And don't follow me right away, we don't want people getting the wrong idea." With that, he ended their conversation and went back inside.

"Ah, did I go too far?" She lamented to herself, now alone. Kosaki wondered if she truly was hopeless with talking to others without the help of Ruri.