Umire stood a few inches taller than Lena.  Lena wasn’t tall but wasn’t exactly short either, standing at 165 cm.  

“Uh…” Lena started dumbly.  She raised her gaze and was once again met with familiar pitch black orbs that seemed to stare straight into her very being.  The dream from the morning came to her mind, and she felt a bit uneasy as the impossibly dark eyes continued to stare into hers, unmoving. 

Suddenly Umires grip on her hand tightened slightly as she pulled their entwined hands towards her body, moving Lena's body towards her own in the process and brought her own face closer to Lenas.  Umire’s scent—soft, floral—wrapped around Lena like a soft cloud, drawing her deeper into the moment.

“I was thinking about you a lot bestie~”, Umire said, her lips enunciating the last word slowly with a smile.  

Lenas eyes widened and she felt a blush spring to her face as she realised the closeness between the two of them, she felt as if their noses would touch if either of them moved just slightly.   Umire’s gaze was intense, as if she was waiting for something, but Lena couldn’t grasp what. Time seemed to slow.  They stood like that for what felt like an eternity, Lena holding her breath the whole time, trapped in the gaze of Umire's impossibly black eyes until Umire broke the silence.

“You know,” Umire continued, her voice barely a whisper, “I think you’re really pretty… especially your eyes…”

Lena found her eyes almost involuntarily drifting to Umire’s lips once again realising how close they were.  she felt the urge to pull away but the odd pull of Umire’s stare held her in place, as though invisible vines had wrapped around her, keeping her from moving.

“I could look into your eyes forever,” Umire added softly. She released Lena’s hand, and Lena felt the sudden absence of her touch as Umire’s hand moved gently to her cheek. The warmth from her fingers was so delicate, so tender, it made Lena’s breath catch. “You’re beautiful,” Umire whispered, sounding impossibly sincere.

Lena’s eyes stung as an unfamiliar feeling rose in her chest. There was something unsettling about the sincerity in Umire’s words, something that didn’t quite match the warmth of her smile.  For some reason, Lena couldn’t stop herself from feeling upset at the words…why was Umire lying?

“I…”, Lena’s voice faltered, an unknown feeling rising in her. “Why are you saying that-”

But before she could get an answer, Umire pulled away with a soft laugh. “Okay, let’s get to class,” she said, her voice bright again, as though the intensity of the moment had never happened. “The teacher’s probably waiting for me—I've overextended my bathroom break. Hehe~.”

Lena blinked, the world snapping back into focus as Umire stepped away. The absence of her warmth was jarring, and Lena found herself suddenly aware of how tense her body had become, as though she had been held in some kind of trance.

Umire slid the door leading to their classroom, letting it bang out and echo in the classroom, unapologetically interrupting the teacher mid-sentence.  

“I'm back, Mr. Yon. Sorry for taking a while; I found Lena on the way here too.”, Umire said, walking into the classroom her skirt and hair flowing as she walked.  Lena once again thought of how much she liked the way her hair moved…it looked so soft she instinctively wanted to touch it.

“Umire, you’re back. I was wondering what was taking you so long…”, Mr.Yon said, trailing off as he spotted Lena still standing outside the classroom.  “Lena, come in. You're late, but I’ll let you off since it's only your first week.”, he smiled warmly at her.  

He had been the one who had made Umire stay with her after school;  he had expressed concern for her lack of communicating with the other students as well as for her falling behind in her studies after the test results came back for the first test Lena had taken since coming.  

Lena had never been the most academically gifted, but even she was shocked at how poorly she did. Despite cramming for the exams, none of the material seemed to stick. On top of that, transferring to the school in the middle of the year after staying in the- she cut off the thought not wanting to go down that route of thinking, she had moved to this school in the first place to separate herself from that…point was she had forgotten alot of the learning curriculum.

“Come on Lena, take your seat.”, Mr. yon repeated.  Umire had already made her way to the back of the classroom and was seating herself down at her desk by the window.  She seemed to like that seat a lot.  Lena walked into the classroom and moved to her seat, giving a slight nod to the teacher before making her way to her seat, which sat in the middle row closest to the door on the opposite side of the classroom from Umire.  She sat down, fixing her skirt before taking out her notebook as the teacher said where they were and continued with his lecture.

Lena followed along, scribbling down notes and resisting the urge to doodle. She felt eyes on her and instinctively turned to meet the gaze. Umire’s familiar eyes met hers. Despite having spoken to her only the day before, Lena felt like she could recognize those eyes in a crowd of a million. They were uniquely captivating, framed by long, dark lashes that made the beautifully haunting eyes stand out even more.  

Umire flashed a soft smile, her eyes gently closed as she gave Lena a small wave. Lena felt warmth flood her cheeks, her hand lifting to wave back before she could stop herself. Flustered, she quickly turned back to her notebook, her heart racing. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Umire’s gaze was still on her, and the thought made her too nervous to even glance up and confirm.

As Lena scribbled down her notes, she realized with surprise that the nervousness she’d felt about entering the classroom late had vanished entirely. She hadn’t even thought about it when she made her way to her seat.  A strange feeling came to her chest as she became alarmingly aware of the weight of Umire's dark black gaze.