The first time she saw him in years was when she saw Shihou during her grocery shopping. She only decided to return because of Sumi's persistence. There she saw him happily talking to the girl Shihou likes. Her heart clenches seeing him happy despite forgetting about her. But there's nothing she can do about it.
"Tennou likes her, so I think they'll be together soon. What about you, Himari? What do you feel?" Shihou asks her that time.
Well, there's only one thing she has always felt since she was born into this world, pain. It scares her how she is slowly getting used to it. She doesn't know what will happen if she ever does. She just wanted to be happy.
The second time she sees him is when they're at school. She scolded Shihou then, and it is because Shihou said he would avoid Mayumi and give way for him.
She opposes his decision because she wants Shihou to be with Mayumi. But the thought that maybe she still has remaining feelings for him is also one reason for her opposition to Shihou's decision. She wasn't sure if she was still in love with him, but seeing them together and him being happy beside Mayumi hurt her.
The third time she saw him was when she talked with Mayumi. Sumi gave her a task to make Mayumi and Shihou be together. She loved seeing others become a couple with her help, so she immediately agreed.
Her talk with Mayumi went smoothly until she saw him at the rooftop entrance. Is he here for Mayumi? Are they together already? No, it can't be. Why does it hurts?
"Thank you for informing me, Mayumi-sama. It seems like your boyfriend is here to pick you up!" she bid her goodbye and looked at him in the corner of her eyes. He's looking at Mayumi, not her. "Oh..." she thought. Maybe she's the only one still thinking about this and still waiting.
It seems like it's not the case.
She's all alone now.
The fourth time she saw him, he was with Mayumi again. Of course, what does she expect? But what she saw stopped her in her tracks. There inside the sweet shop, Mayumi is with him holding hands.
Why are both of them there? She decided not to interfere anymore and began to walk home. She hates this feeling. Why?
Does she still love him?
"Sumi-sama, someone is looking for Hikari!" Hikari stops pouring tea for Sumi as she looks at the maid, confused.
"Who might they be?" Sumi asks curiously as to who is looking for her dear little Hikari. Hikari may be friendly, but she does not make friends that easily. So whoever came to visit her, if it's not Shihou, there's only one other person.
"'It's Ame's only son, Ame Yuki!" Upon hearing the maid's reply, her eyes widen. It's been a while since she saw Yuki. What is he doing here looking for her?
"Sumi-sama, if you may?" she said, asking for permission, only receiving a nod. She bowed slightly and began to leave to meet with Yuki, wondering what he is doing here.
"Yuki, it's been a while! What are you doing here?" the said male looked at her, smiling as they began to converse.
"Ah, by the way! My parents are asking me to choose a bride since next year will be my 24th birthday! And I still have no one by my side!" Her eyes widen slightly, figuring out the reason for his sudden appearance.
"Yuki, don't tell me your purpose here..." Yuki holds her hand, and a look of determination lit up in his eyes.
"I want you to be my wife! Now that you are no longer with Tennou, you can accept my confession, right? Don't tell me you still love him! You know very well that you two can't be together!" the last sentence struck her hard.
Of course, she knew they couldn't be together even if he didn't forget her. But he's the only one she loves, which won't change! Or would it? Until now, she wasn't sure about it.
The last time she saw him slapped her awake to reality, or maybe not, she wasn't sure. She did not expect this to happen when Tennou approached her, calling her by her real name. At first, She thought that maybe he finally remembered her, but how wrong she was.
"What?!" he sighs and looks at her, pissed.
"As I said, I wanted you to kiss Shihou when you saw Mayumi around him!" she looked at him in disbelief. How come the boy she loves became like this? It's as if he's a different person!
"I won't! I work hard to get both of them together! I won't do what you-" She couldn't finish her words when he suddenly grabbed her arm, glaring at her.
It hurts. Himari knows that it will leave a mark. A mark of remembrance that he is no longer the man she once knew. And the look he gave her almost made her cry that time.
When did things go wrong?
"Do you want the whole school to know who you are? Every time an illegitimate child is born, they'll announce who they are and their appearance. That's why they always live miserable in life! How come you don't?!" He looked so pissed, and he even held her arm harder. Tears form in her eyes from the pain she's receiving, both mentally and physically.
"Ah, that's right! You change your name and appearance, that's why! If you want to keep everything you work hard for safe and secure, you better do this!" at that moment, all the love and admiration she felt towards him vanished.
Her heart got broken by him, by the man she loves so much! By Miya Tennou! Her first love, her savior, her happiness! All that was left came crumbling down. Ultimately, she did what he had asked, causing the current situation.
In her downfall, she accepted Yuki's proposal without a thought and began acting on a plan she made to get rid of her title. After all that happened in her life, she can't take for granted that the same thing won't happen again.
She will make sure Yuki keeps this engagement. She's tired of this title, and she will make sure to get this removed even in the prize of using the child she's carrying.
•••~~~•••~~~•••~~~
"Why?! Why now?! You fox!" Tennou yelled to Arihiko.
Mayumi looks at them, scared, Tennou is currently seething with rage, and she doesn't know how to calm him down. They came here because Tennou said he'd use his chance to break their engagement, but the reply they got from Arihiko shocked both of them, especially Tennou.
"I told you! That there's an unwritten rule where you can erase the title of an illegitimate child. You can finally marry her if you use your chance and remove Himari's title! So what will you choose?" Tennou clenches his fist.
Why now? He asked him before but didn't tell him about this unwritten rule. He only looks at Mayumi. She looks at him, scared. There's this doubt in her like she is sure Tennou will choose Himari rather than her. Tennou looks away and looks down at the floor; he messes up! He messes up badly!
"Then Tennou-chan! Himari or Mayumi-chan?"