Yaru stopped in his tracks.

He turned around, and behind him stood a teen. He was tall with dark brown hair. It was tied loosely near his neck, and it fell down to his chest.

Not that having long hair was that big of a deal, the elders all had long hair, but this guy's eyes were so lovely that Yaru couldn't look away for a second.

They were blue.

Yaru knew that teen, it was Yuan. Sha Roma's little brother.

"I'm sorry…" his voice was nice even when he was out of breath. The guy ran after him once he left. He looked a little worried, possibly because he ran after the temple's pariah.

Yuan, like Yaru, was at the bottom. He wasn't picked on, made fun of, or ignored because his big brother protected him, but with his big brother gone...

Well, let's just say that Yuan had a reason to be worried.

Talking about Yuan, he was giving Yaru a kind smile as if to say that everything is going to be alright.

He looked like he wanted to say something to Yaru but couldn't bring himself to start.

Yaru didn't have that problem, "what are you doing here?" he asked coldly.

Experience thought Yaru that there are only two kinds of people: those who are out-right nasty, and those that pretend to be kind.

This Yuan guy seemed like he belonged to the second group.

Yaru turned towards him. He had his hands thrown wide to his sides, hair in disarray, looking like a deranged person. He probably smelled too.

For some reason, that made him feel embarrassed.

"I just wanted to see if you were ok," Yuan said softly, "you left rather abruptly..."

Yaru just snorted. That couldn't be the reason why. "Maybe just get to the point? I've had a terrible day, and it's not like anyone here likes me. You don't have to pretend."

Yuan looked surprised, but his face soon returned to that serene look from before, "I can assure you that I was not pretending."

Yaru laughed weakly but decided to play along, "I thank you for caring, but you don't need to. I just need to... I need to sit down for a little bit. I'll be fine."

Yuan smiled but didn't move, "so let us sit together until you feel better, ok?"

"I don't need your help, ok? I'll be fine on my own," Yaru turned his head to the right. His two hands wrapped around his middle.

He felt exposed. He couldn't calm down with that guy around. "Just go, ok?"

Yuan shook his head, "please let me help you, I promise that's all I want to do."

Yaru looked at Sha Roma's little brother and wondered how the two could be so darn different.

"You want to help? Well, guess what, you can't. No one can because I'm weak. I'm a stupid idiot that doesn't know when to quit, and I'm a useless piece of trash that's going to end up in the last place!"

Yuan shook his head sadly.

"Only one month left until the tournament, big guy!" Yaru laughed, but it came out like a sob, "just one month! How am I supposed to do anything in just one month?!"

"You got like this because, after the tournament, they were going to send you home?"

"I'm like this because they *aren't* sending us anywhere!"