Laila looked around as she walked into Hakushenkan Academy for her entrance exam. Her exam would determine her placement in class, and she really wanted to get into a good one. She wasn't exactly dreaming of being in the famous S.A. Class, but being in class A would be good enough for her. Her long brown hair was pulled up into a neat ponytail with her fringe hanging on the side. She looked around the courtyard of the empty school – it was a weekend after all. She saw lots of plants, and more importantly, what looked like a greenhouse sat nearby. "So that's where the Special A class meet up..." She murmured before walking towards the head of the board of directors' office. She sat down in front of the woman's desk. "Thank you very much for having me, Mrs. Karino." She offered the woman a charming smile.
"You're welcome, Miss... Laila, correct?" The woman was standing behind her chair, practically sneering at the young lady before her.
"Yes."
"Well then, as you know, you're here to take your entrance exam. You will have one hour to complete the exam and will receive your mark by telephone this afternoon. Based on that, you will be sent a uniform that you will wear to attend normal school as of tomorrow. You will also receive your timetable and your class listing." She ran through the procedure as if she'd said it too many times before.
"Yes, m'am." Laila replied politely.
"Here's your paper. You may begin." The woman handed her the exam paper and Laila proceeded to work. Ten minutes after the time she'd started, Laila looked up.
"I'm done, Mrs. Karino." The woman stared at her in surprise.
"Check over your work, then." The woman ordered.
"I already did check through it three times..." She murmured.
"I see... Very well then; you may leave." As Laila walked out, Mrs. Karino started marking the paper, only to receive astonishing results – results she knew not everyone in the academy would favour.
Laila smiled as she walked into the academy, wearing her Special A uniform proudly. She had gotten sixth place in the school, which ultimately made her a member. As she walked through the crowds, she saw people staring at her and whispering amongst themselves. She tried to ignore it, but found it difficult to as she arrived at the conservatory. When she walked in, she found the other six members there, with the seventh wearing a normal school uniform. She saw two people crying, and the others looked upset; it wasn't something she wanted to see on her first day of school. As their eyes fell on her, three pairs of eyes shot her glares. "Um... Hello, everyone..." She murmured. A girl walked up to her and smiled at her.
"Hello; you must be Laila!" Laila nodded in response. "My name is Hikari; it's really nice to meet you!"
"The pleasure is all mine, Hikari." She bowed. Hikari was soon followed by Tadashi. Tadashi wasn't as enthusiastic, but he was nevertheless nice to her. Lastly, the one in the normal uniform walked to her.
"Congratulations, Laila." He smiled at her. "You must have worked very hard on your entrance exam."
"Y-Yes..." She replied, feeling slightly guilty.
"My name is Ryu Tsuji. If there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to ask me or any of the other members." She nodded in response, before hearing a mutter.
"Speak for yourself." A girl with mauve hair had spoken the sentence, and Laila suddenly felt unwelcome.
"I..." She began, only to be interrupted by Ryu.
"Akira, it isn't her fault." He snapped.
"It sure as hell is her fault! She's the one who did the exam!" Akira yelled.
"Akira, she just did her best..." Hikari murmured.
"What, so you're happy Ryu's leaving?" Akira glared at her.
"Please..." Laila looked down, trying to hold back her tears. "Just... I don't want to cause any trouble... I'm sorry..."
"Why don't we settle this logically?" One young man spoke.
"What the hell do you mean, Kei?" Akira demanded.
"Well, why not have all eight of us take a test? If she manages to beat you and Ryu, or even just Ryu, she deserves the spot." The young man named Kei smirked. "And if she doesn't, she ends up being student council president, or below."
"That's reasonable." Hikari mumbled. "We're really sorry, Laila." Laila shook her head in response.
"No need to apologize – he's right. I got here by an entrance exam. You all should have the right to compete against me." Laila forced a smile.
"Well, then, how about we do it tomorrow?" Tadashi suggested.
"Alright." Akira nodded.
"Do your best, okay, Laila?" Hikari grinned at her.
"Y-Yeah..."
"Well, I should get to class." Ryu smiled. "Thank you for being so understanding, Laila. Good luck tomorrow." She nodded, her decision already made.
Mrs. Karino didn't allow the exam. "Of course not; that's just pointless." The woman smirked. Tadashi seemed incapable of speech, but the others were fuming.
"It's not pointless! We want to give Ryu a chance to stay!" A young man she'd learned was named Jun spoke.
"I won't allow it." Mrs. Karino turned her back to them. As Akira opened her mouth to speak, Laila interrupted her, smashing a paper down onto the desk.
"You have three choices, Mrs. Karino." She glowered at the woman who was, yet again, staring at her in shock. "You can either change the number of members in the S.A to eight." All six of the others started muttering amongst themselves, with Megumi just looking at Ryu and Jun. "Or we can have a re-test for all eight of us."
"And the third choice?" The woman folded her arms over her chest.
"You accept this request of withdrawal." Laila stood up straight, revealing the slightly crumpled paper. Most of the members were shocked, but Laila noticed that Kei and Ryu were perfectly calm.
"The exam will be tomorrow. Come prepared." Mrs. Karino mumbled. Laila sighed in relief and looked at the others, who were too busy celebrating amongst themselves to notice her. All except for Kei and Ryu, who nodded to her in approval.
After the exam was done, Laila sighed and walked up to the board that would display their placement. She was the first one to arrive after school and smiled as she found herself relocated to third place in class A. She would never admit that she had deliberately gotten a lower mark, answering questions incorrectly on purpose. As she walked away, she saw the others walk in and delight in their marks. Ryu seemed unhappy, though, and he made his way over to her. "Laila!" He called. She turned and smiled at him.
"Congratulations, Ryu. I guess I really did get in with luck." She spoke calmly and quietly, which bothered him more. She really sounded happy for him, too.
"No, Laila, you didn't. I know you faked that grade. So, thank you." He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly, much to Jun and Megumi's dismay. Laila, on the other hand, was more shocked than all the others.
"Y-You're welcome, Ryu, but..." She slowly moved away. "I couldn't have stayed in the class, knowing I'd kicked you out." He laughed and patted her head.
"See you tomorrow, Laila."
"I don't think you will – our classes are kind of far away." She shrugged and walked off, with all seven S.A members staring at her retreating back.
In the morning, Laila was confused. She was expecting a uniform in the mail, but instead found a new timetable – one with the S.A class. She put on the uniform she had and walked to school, slightly confused. Ryu smiled and ran over to her as soon as he saw her. "So, you worked it out?" He asked.
"Um, not really. I'm still confused." She mumbled.
"I talked to Mrs. Karino – she agreed to increase the capacity of S.A!" He beamed at her, although she could only stare at him with her jaw almost touching the ground.
"She... I'm... You..." She mumbled, unable to formulate a coherent sentence.
"Don't worry about it." Jun walked over and patted her shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. "Sorry we were harsh on you."
"No, I-" She began, only to be interrupted by Akira, who looked honestly upset.
"I'm sorry more than anyone, Laila... I blamed you, but it wasn't your fault." She looked at her. "Can you please forgive me?"
"Of course, Akira. I was never mad at you in the first place." She smiled as they all led her to the conservatory to get proper introductions done.
They went in rank order, based on Jun's suggestion. "My name is Kei Takishima." Kei began. "Son of the president of Takishima Group. I hold rank one in S.A."
"Nice to meet you, Kei." Laila replied, smiling kindly at him.
"I'm Hikari Hanazono!" Hikari was definitely more cheerful than her superior. "I'm rank two, and my dad's a carpenter. I'm into pro wrestling, too! My main goal in life is to beat Takishima!"
"Which you never will..." Kei murmured.
"What did you say?!" She glared at him, making Laila burst into a fit of giggles. "Huh?"
"I'm sorry – it's just that you're both so funny!" She spoke through her laughter. As she calmed down, she gestured to them to continue.
"My name's Jun Yamamoto. My parents are musicians, and I play the violin." Jun smiled politely at the girl in front of him. Laila nodded and looked at Megumi, who was writing – or drawing – in her sketchpad. Laila looked at the writing and smiled.
'My name is Megumi; I'm Jun's twin sister. I'm saving my voice, because I really like singing~!'
"Nice to meet you, Megumi." Laila giggled and nodded.
"Name's Tadashi!" Tadashi grinned widely and gave her a thumbs up. "Food's what I like!"
"Well, you already know me – I'm Akira! I really like cooking and tea!" Akira smiled at her, obviously trying to make up for before. Laila nodded once more.
"And, I'm quite sure you know who I am by now – I'm Ryu Tsuji." Laila nodded and flashed him a sweet smile.
"My name is Laila Fae – I came by here because my brother didn't want me staying in Ikebukuro – he said something about it not being safe there."
"Ah, well that's true." Akira nodded. "You gotta have someone with you if you wanna stay in Ikebukuro. It's really pretty here in Odaiba, though, so you don't have to worry."
"Thank you, Akira." Laila replied.
As Laila walked around the greenhouse, she found a rabbit bounding towards her. She caught it cheerfully and held it in her arms, petting it gently. "What are you doing here, little one?" She murmured as she sat down on the side with it. She found Ryu running over to her, seeming nervous.
"Sorry about him – he tends to run around a lot." He blushed as he sat down next to her.
"Oh, no, it's okay. I love animals!" She giggled softly. "We never got to see many back in Ikebukuro, so I really like to see them now!"
"Haha, he belongs to me. Jun and Megumi don't really like it when I bring animals to school, but I just can't leave them alone..." He let out a tired sigh.
"Well, why don't you make a small play pen for them here in the conservatory? I'm sure there's enough space, and you can keep the animals away from everybody else." She suggested, looking up at him.
"You're right, Laila – that would be a great idea, but Mrs. Karino would never approve." He sighed once more. "She already hates me because I made her expand S.A."
"Well, then, why don't I build one for you? We had a workshop back in my old school, and I really liked working there. I can make you a small fenced area, if you want."
"It's not worth it, Laila – really. You shouldn't go through such trouble." He smiled at her. "But thank you for offering. I really appreciate it."
"It's no problem; just tell me if you change your mind." She winked at him before moving the rabbit onto his lap and standing up, skipping off happily.
At the very start of the next week, Ryu walked into the conservatory with Jun and Megumi behind him. Kei and Hikari were arguing outside, and Akira was trying to 'protect' Hikari from him. Tadashi, of course, was suffering from Akira's wrath. His eyes widened as he saw Laila lying on one of the couches and ran over to her. "Laila?" He held her hand. "Laila, wake up!" She stirred and rubbed her eyes.
"Huh? Oh, g'morning, Ryu..." She sat up slowly and smiled at him.
"I was worried about you..." He blushed and stood up, letting Jun and Megumi exchange greetings with her.
"Oh, I have something to show you!" She stood up slowly and brushed off her skirt, rubbing her eyes. They had large circles underneath them; proof that she hadn't been sleeping very well.
"Really?" Ryu smiled and followed her into the conservatory, freezing as he saw what looked like a miniscule animal farm in front of him. There was a small, white wooden picket fence closing off the squared area with a gate to let people in. Inside was one stable for larger animals, then there was a chicken coop in another corner. He also noticed the amount of animal toys there were around the pen. He turned to Laila, who was yawning tiredly. "You... How long did this take, Laila?"
"Huh? Oh, just from after school on Friday to a bit earlier this morning." She smiled at him, as if it was nothing.
"You mean you spent the whole weekend here?
"Yeah, I did." She shrugged. "Hey, did Akira bring any food? I'm starved." She looked around.
"Yeah, Akira's on her way here now." Jun replied, still slightly shocked. Laila nodded, but froze as she found Ryu holding her tightly. He hugged her, sighing as he breathed into her hair.
"Thank you, Laila... Thank you so much... You have no idea how much this means to me..."
"But I'm only doing this because I caused you so much trouble..."
As the other four members walked in, they all paused in surprise – even Kei. Ryu smiled as he looked at them, keeping an arm around Laila.
"Laila spent all weekend building this for my animals." He announced.
"Really?! That's amazing, Laila!" Hikari exclaimed, running over to her and jumping up and down excitedly, only to have Kei place a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
"Well done, Laila." He nodded. Akira and Tadashi proceeded to compliment her, but she had to interrupt.
"Sorry, but Akira, I need food before I start eating the furniture." She blushed as her stomach growled in agreement with her words.
"Oh, of course! Come sit down!" Akira replied. Ryu led Laila to the coffee table and sat down with her, smiling at her all the while. The chef placed a plate of sandwiches in front of the brunette, smacking Tadashi's hand as he tried to reach for one. Laila immediately attacked the sandwiches hungrily, finishing them faster than she finished her entrance exam. Once finished, she daintily patted her lips with a napkin, her face bright red. "Full?" Akira asked.
"Yes, thank you very much. They were delicious, too." Laila replied.
"Oh great! I can eat now!" Tadashi almost managed to jump onto the food, but Akira stopped him once more and started to serve some for everyone first. Laila smiled up at Ryu, who had left his pet sloth in the play pen. He smiled back at her and ruffled her hair, leaving Megumi feeling slightly jealous. Ryu returned his attention to them as Laila looked at Kei. He was typing rapidly on his computer.
"Hey, Kei? What are you doing?" She asked innocently.
"Working." He replied without once averting his gaze from the screen.
"Kei manages some of his family's projects." Akira explained as she poured everyone some tea.
"That's wonderful! You must be really amazing if you can juggle actual work and stay on top at school!" Laila giggled. She took a sip of her tea and smiled up at Akira. "This is Lavender Darjeeling, isn't it?"
"Why, yes it is! How'd you know?" Akira grinned at her.
"I can tell from the taste – it's also really high quality. Thank you, Akira!" She smiled sweetly. Akira was definitely pleased to have someone with her love of tea. As Laila procceeded to chat with the other members of S.A, she couldn't help but glance at Ryu every once in a while, and every time she did, he did the same. All in all, Laila was just happy that things had been sorted out.