“Have you seen my partner, Howlmon? She’s like… This little cat wolf with two sets of ears and she’s like a purple with a little bit of pink, oh and she has two tails too!”

The reactions would be priceless, at least.

“Aris Koshina!”

Aris dropped her pen when her mother shouted her name and quickly slid her book off her lap, onto the floor. She scrambled up from where she was sitting on the floor, her back against her bed. She bolted out of her room into the main room.

“Y-yes mother?”

Her mother gave her that look, the irritation evident in her hazel eyes. Aris was thankful she had her father’s green eyes. Then she noticed Takeru and Hikari both standing there, looking a little uncomfortable. She understood without her mother needing to say anything and gave the two a look that pleaded with them to go along with this.

“Aris, explain why these two children came looking for you.”

Aris cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, I must have completely forgotten! My teacher wants me to assist a couple of middle school students with some math, of course I had no way of saying no.”

Her mother clicked her tongue and Aris gulped, knowing that tone. However, her mother plopped back down on the couch without another glance.

“Just don’t do it here. It’d be too noisy with a couple of other middle school brats in the house. Your brother is bad enough.”

Aris wanted to hit her for talking badly about Klein, but she didn’t. She nodded, after letting out a slow, deep breath.

“Right, let me get changed and we can go somewhere like the library.”

They nodded and Takeru gestured to the door. “We’ll, uh, wait outside then.”

Aris changed quickly and grabbed her old backpack, stuffing a book and a notebook in it to make it convincing. She knew there would be no studying though. She raced for the entrance hall and sat down to put her sneakers on.

“Aris. I want to talk to you about Meiji when you get home, do you understand?”

The conversation Aris had continued dodging for a month and a half finally resurfaced. Aris nodded weakly. “Y-yes, of course, mother.” Before her mother could go on, Aris bolted out the door and shut it behind her, a little too roughly. She was gonna hear about that later too, probably. She crossed her arms and stood in front of Hikari and Takeru, who both looked a little sheepish.

“You two almost got me in so much trouble.”

“Sorry, Aris, it completely slipped my mind, we both were so excited that-”

Takeru cut Hikari off. “We found Howlmon and she came back with us to Kari’s place too!”

Aris stared at them.

“Really? Just like that?”

They both nodded, but Aris seemed a little surprised. It wasn’t like Howlmon to just go with them, even if she did know them for ages. They started walking as the two of them explained how they found her. She had shown up at their middle school, surprisingly looking for one of them. Was it possible that Howlmon just really needed an excuse to come check up on Aris? She was bad about that. It was possible, but there was no way of knowing without asking Howlmon herself.

“Aris!!”

She felt her shirt being tugged back and stumbled back, but kept on her feet. A skateboarder zipped by right in front of her a few seconds after. She glanced back to see both of them each had a hand on her shirt.

“Sorry guys, I guess I got lost in my thoughts and wasn’t paying attention.”

“You’re lucky we were, or that would have really hurt.”

“At least we would have come visit you in the hospital if we hadn’t stopped you!”

Aris snorted, “You’re sooo kind, Takeru. Thanks for that.”

The three of them continued on their way, most likely to the Yagami residence. She remembered back when she lived in the same building as them. It was before her father passed away. After that, she moved in with her aunt. She almost missed those days, minus the times Taichi thought it would be funny to bother her on weekends.

“Is Tai home?”

“Huh? No, I think he had soccer today.”

“Why, do you want to see him, Aris?”

She could feel the smirk dripping off Takeru’s words and pouted a little.

“As if! I was just wondering. I couldn’t help but remember all the times I was over. Hell, sometimes I wondered if your mother considered me her child too. But, dad was always working, so I didn’t like to bother him when he was tired. Plus, I definitely do not think of Tai in that way. He’s like… Nuisance brother to me.”

Hikari laughed, agreeing with Aris. “He is a nuisance, honestly.” Aris shook her head, laughing a little. It felt too easy, talking like this. It would only be a short time before something happened. She should really keep her mouth shut.

They entered the apartment not long after, it seemed that no one else was home at the time. Aris felt a little relieved, she didn’t have to dodge questions from Mrs. Yagami if she wasn’t here. Hikari must have noticed her relief and laughed.

“Come on, we left Howlmon in my room! She looked pretty beat up when we found her in the digital world…”

Aris’ heart dropped and she felt guilty, she should have never been so rude to her partner. Her lifelong friend. Aris followed the two of them, Takeru seemed very comfortable in their home, she noticed. She smiled a little, they’d always been pretty close but dang, she always thought they’d be cute together.

“Aris?”

She snapped out of her thoughts and grinned sheepishly, “Sorry, sorry.” She followed them into Hikari’s room and noticed a small purple lump in the middle of the bed.

Hikari practically dragged Takeru out of the room when he tried to enter too, “Let’s let the two of them talk alone for a bit.” He looked like he wanted to refuse, but accepted it anyways. Aris hesitated a bit before sitting on the floor next to the bed. She was quiet for a moment, trying to consider what she could possibly say. She wanted to say she was sorry, but her mouth wouldn’t form the words. She’d never genuinely apologised, only gave her half assed apologies to her mother. The ones she knew she didn’t mean.

“Howlmon, you alright..?”

Her voice shook a little, she was nervous. She heard the covers shift and she glanced over, seeing the face of her partner after so long. She smiled gently.

“Hey there, long time no see.”

Howlmon did look really beat, Aris felt immense guilt claw back into her heart. She moved to kneel and carefully picked the digimon up.

“You, you look like crap, Howlmon.”

Howlmon laughed a little and finally responded.

“I feel like crap, thanks, Aris..”

“Hey now, I meant well. I know it’s my fault…”

“Only partly, but yeah, your fault.”

Ouch, they were always so straightforward. Aris sat back, leaning against the bed and held them out to look at them carefully.

“Hey! You know I don’t like being handled like someone’s pet!”

Aris laughed and set her down on the floor.

“Oops, my bad.”

They sat quietly looking at each other for a while before Aris cleared her throat. “Look, I, uh.” She gulped and squeezed her eyes tight and then let out a long, deep breath.

“Howlmon I’m so sorry, I never should have been horrible to you, you’ve always been my best friend and I’m sorry!”

She spoke so quickly that all her words jumbled together and Howlmon just looked at her confused.

“Say again?” Aris sighed. “Howlmon, I’m so sorry. I never should have been horrible to you, I never meant it. You’ve always been my best, and sometimes my only, friend and I’m so sorry.”

She spoke slower this time, allowing a few minutes after for Howlmon to take it all in. Howlmon stood up on her four legs.

“What are we waiting for?”

“Huh?” Aris was genuinely confused, it was so sudden.

“What are we waiting for, Aris?! Let’s go home, I’m starving, will you cook tonight?”

“Wait, you… You forgive me, Howlmon?”

Howlmon jumped up onto her shoulders and stretched out to lay using both shoulders.

“Come on, you got so nervous saying sorry that you rushed it? How could I not forgive you, you’re my friend and partner after all!”

Aris’ heart swelled, she was forgiven. “Buuuut,” Howlmon went on and Aris became nervous. “You are definitely going to have to owe me quite a bit!”

She laughed, standing up as Hikari and Takeru peeked in. “Right, how about I buy the five of you guys and myself some lunch then? On me, of course.”

Hikari smiled, clasping her hands over her heart, Gatomon right behind her spoke up. “You two made up then?” Aris nodded and Takeru patted Hikari’s back. “I told you they would! Now, I would love lunch!” Patamon quickly agreed with Takeru’s input.

Aris nodded, “Right, what about you Kari?”

“Well, I can’t exactly refuse, can I?”

Both Aris and Takeru shook their heads and she sighed, but in a loving manner. “Fine, fine, me too.” She knew it wasn’t like Hikari hadn’t wanted to anyways.

The next day was Friday, Aris was thankful for that. She was exhausted both mentally and physically. She had gotten home fairly late last night after stressing over her mother visiting next week. And poor Matt had to listen to it, she felt bad about that. His dad had known hers, he had heard from her own father about Aris’ mother’s behaviors. Before he passed, that was.

Aris arrived at school far too early, as she always did. A spare few other students were here, most of them keeping to themselves. Aris was too. She knew she had to catch up on studying, since she’d been too exhausted to do it last night. However, once she sat down in the classroom and pulled her study book out, all she could do was stare at it. Her mind continued drawing up empty and it was practically screaming for her to stop studying.

She cursed herself, but listened anyways, and shut the book. Resting her arms on the table, she laid her head on top of them and sighed. She just had to make it through today. And then she had a weekend to hide away from the world. She shut her eyes and, for a while, everything around her was quiet.

“Aris?”

She sighed, hearing her name being called, and raised her head, blinking a few times. Not much time had passed, she guessed, based on how few students had shown up since she closed her eyes. Izzy stood a little awkwardly, a few feet away from her desk.

“Did you hear me? I-I asked if you were alright..”

She rubbed her eyes and cursed at herself once more. Of course she hadn’t heard him until he was closer, she forgot her hearing aid at home.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m alright.. Just a little worn out, I guess.”

She’s always wearing herself to her limit, Izzy thought, I used to worry about her but respect her for it at the same time. The air between them was silent for a moment, but it wasn’t their usual comfortable silence. It was awkward and felt like they both had something they wanted- no, needed- to say.

“Uhm…”

Aris fiddled with her pencil and glanced over at him. Their eyes met and both of them immediately looked away.

“We haven’t really talked like we used to. Are you.. Busy after school? Maybe we could just… Sit and talk like we used to.”

He felt embarrassed asking her, but he couldn’t help but feel like she was falling away. Why wouldn’t he try to catch her, pull her back in? She sighed deeply, resting her chin on her hand and staring down at her desk.

“Sorry, Izzy, I would love to, really, but…” She trailed off. But mother would never forgive me if she ever found out I skipped even a day of studying for someone else…

“Is something wrong? You know you can always talk to me about anything.”

She looked over at him, she wanted desperately to tell him. “No, everything’s fine, really.” Right after she stopped speaking, Mimi came over, joining them with a cheery good morning. Aris felt bad for feeling bitter. She and Izzy still managed to get along as friends, despite what happened. Aris almost resented Mimi. She was always the social one, the cute one, the one who got what she wanted, no matter what. She realized she was gritting her teeth and slowly unclenched her jaw.

“Aris, you look unhappy about something.”

There it was again. Everyone was always pointing out how unhappy she looked, or asking if she was okay, or asking what was wrong. She was ready to snap. But she didn’t. She took a deep breath and stood up.

“Excuse me for a moment.” She didn’t wait for them to say a thing. She stepped out of the classroom door, passing by Matt as she did. He raised his hand, to put on her shoulder to stop her, but she swatted his hand away.

She made her way down the hall until she reached a window. She put her hands on the window sill and let out the breath she’d been holding in. How was she going to manage to get through the year like this if they just didn’t stop? It was ironic. Usually Aris was the one who never gave in despite the challenges and obstacles, but this time, she was the one giving in. She hung her head. What did I do wrong? I can’t fix anything until I know....

“Aris, why did you change?” She scoffed at herself, of course at a time like this she’d remember the last thing her partner had said during their argument a couple weeks ago.

“Howlmon, you’d never understand. I don’t know the answer to that either…”

She sighed again before pushing herself back up from leaning.

“I have got to stop running away like that..”

“You’re telling me, what’s going on, Aris?”

She nearly jumped out of her skin, but she did give a small shriek.

“S-Sora! Good morning..”

The look she gave her was enough to convince Aris that she wasn’t buying any sort of excuse Aris was going to be giving her. Aris sighed.

“Look, I just… It’s a long story.”

Aris had always liked Sora, she was easy to get along with and cared a lot for her friends. Aris easily respected her, she almost wished she had talked more to her when they were younger.

“Do you want to talk about it? I’m all ears if you do.”

Aris shook her head. “It’s not that- I mean, I do want to talk about it, but..”

“But you’re not good with words or people and you’re afraid of saying too much or the wrong thing.”

Aris nodded, “Yeah. There’s a lot of things I should say, that I want to say, but I just can’t or I just don’t…”

Sora gently put a hand on her shoulder. “You used to write them down or write an email of some kind. The things you wanted to say. Then you would come back and try to say them again. And, if you couldn’t do it then either, you would send the email or leave the note or letter somewhere. Remember?”

Aris nodded a little, “Maybe I should try doing that again. I was getting so good at speaking up too, what happened..”

“I can’t tell you what happened, but I can tell you that everyone still thinks of you as their friend. Especially me. Come on, let’s get to class.”

Aris nodded again and the two girls set off for the classroom. Aris felt a little better after talking to Sora, but she still felt lost. I carry the crest of perseverance, dang it, so why am I having such a hard time of this? How can I overcome an obstacle when I don’t know what it is…

The first half of her day, Aris felt frustrated and continued to zone out. She had barely noticed when the lunch bell rang, until someone was standing in front of her desk. She heard them clear their throat and looked up, a little startled.

“Huh? Oh, what’s going on, Izzy?”

“Aris, are you sure you’re okay? I’m never one to pry, but, well... “

“Izzy, I’m fine.” She stands up and grabs her book and lunch. “I’m going to the library, don’t worry about me.” That’s NOT what I wanted to say, dang it. Augh, I keep saying what I don’t want to say. “You’re welcome to join me, if you need a peaceful place to use your laptop… o-or whatever..”

She blushed and looked away, walking past him, trying to hide her blush. She made her way to the library, but was surprised to see that he had followed her. Neither of them said anything, they settled in on opposite sides of the table. Izzy set his laptop up and started working on something, he looked very focused. She was sure if she said something now, he might not even hear it. She considered it, but she was far too embarrassed to actually do it. She opened her study guide and set her lunch aside.

She found that it was hard to study. She used to focus so much better around him, but now she could only glance between him and her study guide, unable to make progress with either one. It was frustrating for her. She felt lost again. What was she supposed to do to go back to the way she was before? She was working so hard on talking to people but now she could barely talk to anyone, especially her friends. The room felt too warm for her, it was driving her mad. She got up and threw open the closest window, taking in a deep breath of the air. Maybe she could focus now.

“Right, that’s better.”

As Aris sat back down and turned her attention back to her study book, Izzy glanced over at her. He couldn’t help but notice she hadn’t eaten. Does she do this all the time? How was he supposed to believe that she was fine when she wasn’t acting like herself. She hadn’t been for months and now everyone noticed. Even Mimi had grown frustrated with giving her her space. They all just wanted Aris to be herself, and their friend again.

The silence was unbearable and uncomfortable. It demanded that something be said. He cleared his throat and looked back at his work on his laptop.

“Uh, are you doing anything over the weekend?”

Her response was short. “Studying.”

His gaze shot back to her. “If you study too much, you may wear yourself out more.”

“I know, but I don’t have a choice.”

“Of course you have a choice, you-”

She cut him off. “I don’t. I… I have to study. I don’t have a choice.” I can’t risk mother finding out I skipped on studying again. If she found out… I’d be dead. Aris felt her hand shake, but all she could do was sigh and shut her book.

“I-I need a book to help me. I’ll be right back.”

She didn’t wait for a response before getting up and disappearing behind some bookshelves. Now Izzy was very worried. She rarely ever needed a book to help her with her study book, so this was either a rare case or she really wasn’t alright. He reasoned with himself, she was fine she said so, he’d try and tell himself, but he knew her better than that. Friendships and relationships are just as important as your computer, Izzy. He decided to go check on her, she’d always done it for him the past years. It was time for him to start showing her the care she’d always been showing him.

The thought took him a little off guard and he had to think back on it. She’d been there to support him through his crazy physical attraction to Mimi, to help encourage him even after she’d rejected him. Even back in middle school, she’d helped him out before any of the others would have. He stood up and walked through the bookshelves until he found her. She seemed frozen in place from fear and he noticed what she was staring at. A spider sat on the bookshelf, not far from the book he assumed she was going for. Arachnophobia, it’s always been bad for her.

“Aris?” She jumped as he placed a hand on her shoulder, but relaxed a little.

“I-Izzy, sorry…”

He goes to grab the book he thought she wanted. “This one?” She nodded. As soon as he had pulled the book out, the spider scuttled off, and so did Aris. The moment she saw it move, she was halfway across the library. He found it… actually really cute. He blushed when he realized what he was thinking. He was never supposed to realize how much he cared about her, but now that he had, it kept coming up again and again, embarrassing him. This time, though, he wouldn’t have her supporting him to confess, she had no idea about it.

“I-is it gone..?”

He snapped out of his thoughts when she poked her head around the corner and spoke up quietly. He looked around for it and then, after not seeing it, nodded. She let out a breath of air and rejoined him. She was red in the face and didn’t say a thing. He held the book out to her and said quietly.

“I mean it, if anything is wrong, please talk to me about it. I might not be the best for advice or paying attention to my friends and I might put my computer work ahead of a lot of things, but.. I am trying.”

She stared up at him, and then she quickly turned her head away and wiped at her eyes.

“Aris, why are you crying?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just… I don’t know how to say that I’ve been wrong, that I need help, that something’s wrong and I… I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but I know something is wrong and I’m so confused and lost, how do I fix it if I don’t know what I’m doing wrong? And I’ve been so worried about what my mother will do or say that I keep wearing myself down to make sure I don't have to worry about it and… And…”

She trailed off and hiccuped and he understood that it was taking a lot for her just to say even that. He wasn’t sure what to do, how was he supposed to help? He gently placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Aris, you don’t have to say it right away or ask for help directly. There are other ways of doing that. I know how hard it can be, but everyone’s here for you, especially me. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to help you before…”

They’d all been pretty close when they were kids and even in middle school. He was slowly starting to understand that these feelings for her, weren’t new, but his understanding and knowledge of them was new. But, with her feeling like this right now, he had to put them to the side to help her. Even if he knew he would be rejected, he would be there to help her no matter what. She sniffled and wiped her eyes again.

“I’m so sorry, Izzy. For breaking down on you like this. I’ve just… I’ve been so afraid and confused lately and… I... “

She’d didn’t often admit to needing help or being wrong, so this was very hard for her. She gulped and her hands shook.

“I… I was wrong about a lot of things and horrible to everyone and just a really, really terrible friend. I… I-I…”

She was shaking, but she had to do this. She had to, it was the first step to getting her friends back, to getting Howlmon back, and to getting herself back.

“Izzy, I… I need your help! P-please, I-I don’t know what I did wrong, so I can’t fix it. Not on my own. I-I… I need your help…”

She got quieter with each word and finally stopped talking and looked up at him. He smiled gently.

“Even though you didn’t have to ask for my help, I’m glad you did. Of course I’ll help you.”

She felt so relieved that her legs gave out and she stumbled.

“Aris!”

He caught her and helped her down to where she was sitting on the ground. She laughed a little, her eyes still red from crying, and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Sorry, I guess I was so nervous when I said it that I just couldn’t stand anymore after you said that.”

The changes happened drastically over spring. She didn’t greet them like she usually did, she didn’t even give them a half assed greeting. Everyone else might not have noticed if she’d tried to greet them, but Izzy would have. She was someone important to him, someone he was comfortable around. Why, suddenly, did he want her attention so badly, when he knew he wasn’t going to get it?

For a brief second, their eyes met as she entered the classroom. He felt his heart leap but then sink once he noticed. She looked as if she hadn’t been sleeping again, or as if she’d been crying. Maybe it was both even. He would have approached her, but the moment she sat down, she opened her study book. Another new study book, didn’t she just get the last one last week? He was unsure how to approach her, but he wanted to, so badly. What changed that he couldn’t just approach her like he used to?

He took a deep breath and stood up, but only to sit back down after he stood in place for a few seconds. He couldn’t do it. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed it, but kept trying to focus on her study book. She hadn’t felt the need to say good morning in a while, had he noticed? She found herself wondering often that, if she stopped talking to them long enough, would they still be her friends? Today was one of those days were she found herself wondering it again. Studying was her only excuse to avoid them, she’d never studied this much before… well, before everything.

She sighed, shutting the study book as their teacher called attention to the class. It was another drab day of forcing herself to listen. Today, it was unusually difficult for her to focus. She scolded herself for letting herself lose sleep over some stupid nightmare, that was the cause of her lack of focus. And, it wasn’t for lack of trying because she certainly was trying to pay attention. So, when the lunch bell rang, it seemed like a miracle all too soon for her. She felt as if she’d blinked and half her day had gone, but it was constantly like that. Day in and day out, a blurr. She packed up her textbooks, grabbed the lunch she knew she wouldn’t eat, and took it and her study book to the library.

Her safe haven, it was typically peaceful in the library. However, there was a couple small groups in there today. Aris had forgotten about the group study she’d overheard a few classmates talking about. They would go from lunch through the study hour, her only library time. She saw an arm raise into the air to wave at her and she quickly turned to walk to the other side of the library. She refused to meet any of their eyes, she didn’t want to talk. She sat herself down at the last open table, nearby a group of girls giggling over a magazine. So much for studying, huh. The window nearby was cracked open and the spring breeze was almost lulling.

Aris sighed as her stomach growled, it’s not like she’d be able to focus here anyways or with her stomach aching like it was. She set her study book open off to the side, she’d glance at it as she ate, maybe it would help. She set her lunch in front of her, it would be the first time this school year that she’d actually eaten her lunch before she’d gotten home from school. She really shouldn’t have skipped breakfast, so this was where she ended up because of that. The first few minutes went by with no issues. Aris was enjoying her lunch and slowly working through calculus problems, drowning out the giggling girls a table away. She was completely focused, so she didn’t hear someone clear their throat the first time. The second time, she jumped a little and looked up, across the table, to see who was bothering her.

It was unnatural to see Mimi looking uncomfortable, but here she was. “Uhm, Aris, look, we haven’t been talking, but this is the only table open and I really need to study for the test next week-” Aris knew where she was going with it.

“Sit down, Mimi. You don’t have to ask permission to sit with me, even if I’ve been too busy to talk lately.” Aris knew it wasn’t the whole truth, she hadn’t been too busy at all, but Mimi approaching her was rare. If anyone ever gave Aris her space when it was felt that she needed it, it was definitely Mimi. Mimi set a book on the table, dropped her bag next to the chair and sat down, smiling now. She gave Aris a quiet, “Thanks.” and set herself up to study.

Neither of the girls said anything more than that to each other, but being close to one of her old friends, even like this, made Aris worry about giving away her feelings and that something was wrong. They both studied in peace, but soon Aris stopped to pack up her finished lunch. Now that she wasn’t focused, she caught bits and pieces of the conversation from the other table.

“Dating a girl”, “Of all girls.”, “Uhhuh, Mimi…”

Now they definitely had her attention. Aris glanced across the table, looking to see any sign that Mimi was listening to them too. If she was, she was very good at hiding it. Aris let out a silent huff and rolled her pencil off the table, letting it fall to the floor. She leaned over to pick it up very slowly, listening to the other girls.

“Can you believe it? I had heard she was boy crazy. Now this? I bet she’s just wanting attention.”

“There’s no way a girl like her actually likes girls, though. She’s definitely straight and faking it.”

It didn’t take long for Aris to have heard enough. So what if Mimi was dating a girl? She had confessed to her a long time ago about being a lesbian. Aris didn’t care about that, but she did care about these girls gossiping and talking smack. Aris was ticked off and, even though she swore to keep to herself, she slammed her book shut and stood up. She strode over to the other table after picking her things up.

“Hey. Why don’t you shut up and stop spreading this crap around. So what if Mimi likes girls? Stop being so stupid and grow up a little. Some of us were trying to study and would rather not hear idiocy rolling off your tongues. If you have a problem, bring it up with that person for god’s sake.”

She left them staring in shock, silent. She heard Mimi shout wait, but didn’t slow down until she was out of the library. She noticed she was shaking and unclenched her fist. She never thought she’d get so worked up about it.

“Aris, I said wait! Geez!”

Aris turned around as Mimi caught up to her, placing her hands on her knees to catch her breath. Aris couldn’t help but feel a little curious what she would run after her to say.

“Thank you. For back there. I.. I usually don’t pay attention to it, but thank you. That meant a lot.”

Aris looked away, she could see that Mimi genuinely meant her gratitude by the way she looked at her.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it, Mimi. Those girls were annoying anyways. And stupid.”

“Hey, hold on! Uh, could you… maybe help me study for the test? I promise I’ll pay you back for your time! Remember those donuts we always got after school last year? You liked the fancy curl ones with strawberry frosting, didn’t you? I could, get some of those in exchange for your help..”

Aris stared her down but slowly started laughing.

“Mimi, are you… bribing me?”

“If that’s what you want to call it, then yes! So, help me study a little? After school or during lunch if that’s easier! I know you’re busy studying all the time now…”

Aris sighed, she had to remind her. It was almost impossible to say no, though. Aris wanted to agree so desperately, but for some reason, couldn’t bring herself to outright say yes.

“Well. I guess I could… find the time to help you, as long as the donuts are still part of the deal.”

Mimi grinned and leapt forward, wrapping her arms around Aris’ neck and almost squealing.

“Thank you, Aris!”

Aris froze on the contact, unsure of what to do. She gulped.

“Yeah… It’s nothing, Mimi.. Just.. Let go, please.”

She jumped back and laughed.

“Oops, my bad. So, can we start studying today? After school?”