Light + Shades

Chapter 1: An unrequited request


Only the tick tack of the clock was heard in the dust filled office. The time was over 4 pm and the proud sunrays filtered through the transparent curtains.

Two girls were sitting next to each other… heavy breathes were audible from the younger one while the other girl was playing with her pen. The writing equipment sounded like an officious woodpecker on an oak tree's trunk… she hit the desk with the pen two times during one tick on the clock. The young girl was composed and calm but her last straw was torn by the new rhythm of the pen. Her respiration rapidly accelerated.

"Nami… can you stop tapping on the desk? " Hino Kahoko reprimanded her friend with a forced smile on her lips.

"Eh… does it bother you? " Nami just grimaced and rapped the pen ten more times.

"I try to understand your sentence… but I'm reading the same paragraph for the umpteenth time! "

She skimmed through the lines one more time but a beating pain in her temples stopped her as soon as Nami begun tapping again.

Kahoko placed the magazine on the desk with a loud slap and Nami just giggled.

"OK… OK… don't bark me up to the tree… " She continued laughing when Kahoko glared at her amused stance from the corner of her eyes.

"Do you like the article? " Nami stood up and ransacked her purse. "Geez… where is it? " She sniggered while she unpacked her feminine accessories and made an exhibition on the school desk with lipstick and mascara.

"Nope… This article is horrible." Kahoko re-read the paragraph again: And at the end… the daughter of the prime minister finally found her prince… The prince who will protect her from misfortune… The young lass rolled her eyes. She never believed in fairy tales and she never wished for living in one. Her simple life was perfect and her beliefs were between reality's walls.

"Eh… misfortune and prince…" She repeated the magic words but their spell didn't affect her emotions.

"You're the only one who doesn't like my newest article. " Nami pursed her lips up when she exclaimed. "Finally! " She was holding some keys and she brought them closer to her lips where she kissed the inanimate objects with much enthusiasm.

"Bah…" Kahoko stood up and picked up her shoulder bag from the chair. "See you on Monday. "

"Hey, where are you going? " Nami placed her hands on her waists and blocked the door. "Here!" She handed over a CD to Kahoko who just negligently squeezed the object into her bag.

"What's this? I have finals coming up so I doubt I'll have time editing your article in the next few days. " She was mentally and physically exhausted and she couldn't dream of anything else besides a hot, bubble bath and soft blankets.

"It's about the 'Shades'…" Nami's pupils widened and a mischievous glint was seen.

"Shades… like colors or hues… shadows…"

Kahoko looked up to the high ceiling and her index finger was under her chin. Shades… the word itself didn't reveal a gripping story. It sounded rather boring. But Nami was a bloodthirsty journalist, and she was never satisfied with petty news. Unless she intended to waste ink on blooming sakura trees or weather changes.

"Don't be silly. I assume… you've never heard of them… " Nami stepped closer to Kahoko… Naughtiness laced her mild voice that caused goose bumps on Kahoko's skin.

"No…?" Was it a question or a statement? Neither Kahoko nor Nami could tell the difference but the older girl predicted the answer according her knowledge about her best friend.

"Pssstttt…. " Nami leaned even closer just to reach Kahoko's ear. She covered her mouth and whispered the secret.

"They are a classical music band… and it is consisted of seven boys…"She kept a brief silence just to study Kahoko's reaction. Her cheeks turned into tomato red and Nami laughed. "They are really famous… I'm surprised that you, of all people, didn't know about their existence…"

Kahoko shook her head from right to left then spun around her heels.

"Since when did you write about classical music? It's not your style…" Kahoko struggled to give a retort to Nami, but she was more than unsuccessful.

"Hah… since handsome guys are involved..." She smiled again and patted Kahoko's shoulder. "Rest! You deserve it! And today is Friday! Wanna go out?" Nami stretched her arms above her head and moved her hips around an invisible radius.

"I'm too tired for your Friday nights…" She reminisced about all night long dances and how she forced her to dance with every boy in the place. It was more a hunting trip than a girls-night-out… And she was 4 years older than Kahoko. On the top of everything, Nami was a university student while Kahoko was in high school.

"You're my brother's girlfriend, but that title doesn't give you privileges over me!" Both girls tittered while they hugged each other.

"See you on Monday! Sister-in law!"

"Nah… more like an evil stepmother!"

.


"Ssssss… don't open the door, yet!" A young man warned his friend before he could have placed the keys into the hole. "Someone's playing." He glued his left ear to the door and wished that God would have created human with two ears on one side and he could have heard the heartwarming music with both ears.

"It halted… "

"She halted…" They complained at the same time and the taller one averted his gaze to his friend.

"I thought she stopped playing a long time ago. " Kira Akihiko crossed his arms around his chest and patiently waited for the red haired man to answer.

"She's more than cautious. " He heaved and continued in a low voice. "She only plays when I'm not around. " Hino Takumi ceased his sentence but it seemed he wished to share more with his friend.

"Takumi… Then why did she stop just now?"

The two men looked like burglars in front of a smaller mansion and they were just waiting for the best moment to burgle in. Their distance was only a tiny step and Akihiko bent down to hear Takumi's voice.

"Because she hasn't got eagle eyes, but her sense of hearing is more than exceptional." Akihiko twitched his eyebrows, but he was aware of the Hino family's circumstances. He believed that the little sister had incessant love towards her brother. Akihiko always looked up to people who placed others' happiness in priority over own pleasures.

"The music was too loud. How could she have heard our footsteps?" Seemingly, he inquired himself because Takumi had opened the door and already hung up his blazer on the coat-stand.

"I told you! She's got super sensitive ears!" Takumi contemplated his surrounding and found something out of place. The whole house was so empty but he smelt burnt oil in the air.

"In this case, I'd love to have her in my…" Akihiko halted halfway as he glared at his friend's flabbergasted expression.

"She would never agree with that! Let's go to the kitchen!"

Both men hurried through the living room and with five more footsteps, they reached the kitchen.

Strawberry locks covered a cherry red face…she was sitting in the middle of the kitchen. One hand was occupied with an instrument while the other one was holding a plate.

"Kahoko! Are you all right?" Takumi sat next to his sister and worriedly caressed her hidden face.

The girl discovered her brother and with a quick movement, she smuggled the instrument away.

"Onii-chan… I didn't expect you to arrive home this early…" Her voice cracked and looked up to see the handsome guest. Her cheeks changed a hue of red and let her hair to be a natural curtain in front of her face.

"Takumi! I suggest …we should eat dinner outside!" Akihiko's eyes were stuck to the burnt chicken breast.

"My sister worked a lot on dinner. It'd be such a waste…"

Akihiko didn't intend to bicker with his best friend. He knew his affection to his sister. Did she really work hard on the chicken? They just heard her playing a beautiful melody some minutes ago. It only exposed that she didn't pay attention on cooking. Probably, she completely neglected the food!

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Kahoko excused herself. She was not hungry anymore, just really tired and confused. The instrument was sleeping on her desk and the sight woke her dormant feelings up: love, hatred, yearning…and regret. The magnetic field between her fingers and the strings were unbearable. With trembling hands, she picked up the instrument and secured it in its case.

"I don't dare…" She mulled over the perplexing sensations but gave up and she found herself in the bed.

.


"Just keep wasting her talent…" Akihiko trifled with his meal. He hardly touched the meat, but he ate all the rice that Takumi prepared after Kahoko disappeared.

"It's not me…" Takumi sighed and bit a huge portion from the burnt chicken. "She's… too considerate of me and she doesn't understand…"

"That you're doing fine…" Akihiko finished his sentence with confidence lacing his voice.

"Exactly…" Takumi bent his head down and suddenly, his appetite vanished with his voice.

"Then… we should play a trick on her!" Akihiko winked and placed his cutlery at the side of the plate, signaled that he'd finished eating.

.


Kahoko hiked the roads of Seiso Gakuen and she believed that she was in a maze. Why was she there? Well…because her brother, HER OWN BROTHER, blackmailed her. But it was like a field trip. It lasted only a day then she could have forgotten about coming to this school even again!

Mops and mows were clearly seen on her changing countenance when she pointed out a lazy looking teacher sitting on a bench.

"That's my lucky charm!" She mused and approached the teacher.

He had livid pink hair and seemingly, he enjoyed his little free time with some stray cats purring on his lap. He breathed out a huge smoke while he lowered his hand with the cigarette.

The ultimate bachelor… Kahoko smiled and thought further the situation: who the heck would fall for a guy like him? His mouth must smell like a factory chimney and his clothes are embedded in cat hair.

The teacher was still in his wonderland when Kahoko harrumphed.

"Eh… excuse me!" She felt the hot sensation is lurking up on her face. Why? She didn't know the answer.

"Ah… what are you doing here?" The young teacher squinted on the girl. Her clothes revealed a morning battle with an alarm clock. The skirt and the white shirt were not ironed and her hair was in a messy ponytail. From the first sight, Hiroto Kanazawa was sure, that the girl was not a student from Seiso Gakuen.

"I'm looking for the principal, Kira Akihiko." She scraped her left arm in the furry of excitement. Excitement? She was not excited, rather annoyed!

"Oh… " The teacher fumed out another amount of smoke and stroked the fur of a rusty colored cat. "You must be Hino Kahoko…"

Was she that famous that even an otiose teacher knew about her visit?

"Oi! Tsukimori! Great timing!" The teacher moved his head to the direction of a light blue haired boy. "Come here!"

Vexation and rejection ran through his handsome face but he stepped closer to the so-called-responsible teacher.

"Sensei! I was about to spend my lunch break…" He protested but Kanazawa knew all the tricks.

"Yeah… lunch break with your violin. I never knew you also share food with your instrument!" Kanazawa guffawed.

"Excuse me!" Tsukimori Len was about to flee when Kanazawa stood up and stretched his legs and arms.

"Hold on a second! You will be the perfect tour guide for this lovely lady!" He pointed to Kahoko who didn't understand why they were talking about lovely ladies since there was NONE in a 20 miles radius. She shook her head and became scarlet red.

"I don't have time for this!" The chance of running crossed the young boy's mind but the teacher lazily stepped forward.

"Just go and show her the school…she's really important to the director! Don't give her the cold shoulder!" Kanazawa heaved, like it would have been possible for the famous Tsukimori Len. "Bring her to the first practice room after lunch!"

It sounded like a dirty blackmail in sugar coat, so Tsukimori Len couldn't have refused the kind title of a tour guide. Tour guide? He didn't have the map of the school in his mind! He was sure how to find his classroom and the way to the practice rooms. But that was all!

He turned back just to protest one more time, but he found no one next to the bench besides some stray cats and a red haired girl. She was looking down at the cats…

"Let's go! I will just show you the way to the principal's office!"

Kahoko dispersed her inner struggling with contradictions about beautiful ladies and purring cats when Len glared at her wiggling posture.

"I'm Hino Kahoko! Nice to meet you!" She lighted her lips with an inviting smile but the boy didn't respond.

"Tsukimori Len…Shall we?"

They were walking around the lake for more than five minutes. But the friction sound of shoes pestered Tsukimori's sensitive ears. First, he just sighed. Second, he furrowed his eyebrows. Third, he verbalized his problem!

"Hino-san…" Tentatively, he begun…"Can you,… can you lift up your feet even for 1 cm?"

Visibly, the girl was oblivious about her childish acting and frankly, she enjoyed shuffling along on the concrete sidewalk.

"Oh…Hehe…" A silent laugh left her lips but she tried her best to lift up her feet. "Tsukimori-kun… I think we're lost…"

The boy grimaced when he perceived the hurting words. After all, they drew like 10 circles around the lake just from different directions, but the result remained the same…

"That's OK… I… I'll continue alone!"

Kahoko clasped her hands together and jumped a little backwards. She didn't recognize that she was dancing at the edge of the lake but the boy was aware of the distance between her and the cold water.

"Watch out!"

He hollered and suddenly, he caught Kahoko's shirt and pulled her back. The weight double on Len's arms and he lost his balance. He stepped back and hit his head at the trunk of a tree. Thank God! He could have leaned against it. But what was the soft, yet well-shaped …something in his left palm? And why did he feel something heavy was propping against his waist?

His premonition was correct… the heavy 'something' was Kahoko… but the soft… yet well-shaped 'something' was… he wished he would have never opened his eyes!

"Hino…" He muttered and his boiling blood reached his face. He was leaning against Kahoko's chest with his left hand and the white shirt's first 3 buttons were nowhere in sight. The lacy edge of her bra was peeking through the torn shirt.

Now she was sure why Len was touching her chest! With a reflex move, she smacked the boy's pale face.

Len picked up his violin case and turned her back on the apple red girl. But before he would have neglected his duty, he caught a glimpse of a sleeping boy on an uncomfortable bench…

.


"Tsukimori! Where's Hino-san? I thought that she was with you!" The slothful teacher was sitting on a desk and looked around the bunch of boys. Correctly, there were 6 teenage boys.

Len frowned at the memory of the girl… he didn't want to remember anything that happened in the last 30 minutes.

"She chose to be guided by Shimizu-kun…" Len crossed an X over his chest and closed his eyes.

"You know, Tsukimori… you reach adulthood when you tell a lie and you get away with it…Let's say that you haven't achieved that, yet!"

Kanazawa reached for his front pocket to steal a cigarette from it, but he changed his mind as soon as the principal entered the practice room.

'Hey! Arctic fox!" An oil green haired boy turned his head to Len who just ignored the annoying nickname. "Who's this Hino-san?"

Len just shrugged his shoulders.

"They're typical poster boys of puberty…" The principal mused as he ordered the teenagers to sit down. "Tsukimori, mind telling us what happened?"

"We met with Shimizu-kun on our way to your office and I believe that I was unnecessary!"

Len's composure was calm and emotionless. Like he cared what really happened! Actually, he dumped the girl and passed her to Shimizu-kun. There was no way he could have stayed with her for even one more second after the embarrassing situation. The print of her slender fingers was still burning on his skin.

"We are doomed if we rely on him!" Besides Len, the boys shouted in unison. They had a piece of knowledge of their little kuhai: he was capable of sleeping anywhere and in any circumstances.

On the other hand, Len considered his kuhai as a fellow, bright musician and he had a twinkling hope for the drowsy boy… He can do it! Len prayed silently when a little responsibility hit his mind.

"I'm gonna skin him alive if something happens to Hino-san!" Tsuchiura Ryoutarou, the previously mentioned green haired guy was clenching his fist.

"I prefer brains over brawns … not like someone…" Len answered with a witty retort but the other boy didn't appreciate it.

"Are you picking a fight? You can get it anytime! Hey Hihara senpai! We need an immediate pest control in the room!"

He stepped closer to the blue haired lad when he was interrupted by the thud of the door.

And there stood Shimizu Keiichi: panting and fighting for a piece of air. His face was crimson red and he was holding Kahoko's hand. The innocent girl's clothes were soaked wet and the shirt looked more torn than before. She was out of breath and the color of her cheeks turned a deeper hue of red when her eyes met with the 6 boys, the lazy teacher and the familiar principal.

"Would you mind telling us what happened?" Akihiko raised his voice.

"My-sin-ser-est-ap-ologizes… we-are-la-te…" A sleepy voice broke the silence in the room. "I-was…sleeping-on-Hino-san's-laps…"

All the boys were perplexed and they ran to cover the girl with their blazers. Of course, Len was not offering his blazer to anyone. But the principal stepped between them and placed his coat on Kahoko.

"She is Hino Kahoko and from next week, she'll be in 2-A class." He continued his speech.

"W…What?" Kahoko realized the problem and the dirty trick that her brother and Akihiko played on her. "I don't play any instrument!" She lied.

"Sorry! Hino-san! But your transfer papers are already accepted."

The girl was desperate to look for a hole and hide there. Because she was abashed by her wet clothes and by the fact that Akihiko knew her since she was a little girl… her lie was obvious.

"Hino-san! Let me introduce you to our school's pride! We give home to the popular classical music band, to the "Shades"! You'll be the first female group member! Welcome!"

She was dizzy and a memory of Nami's article stuck her mind… shades… 7 boys…

"I don't play with amateurs. I believe she stated that she doesn't play any instrument!" Len verbalized his doubts but nobody cared.

"She plays the electric violin. That's the light that our band needs!" Kanazawa joined the one sided conversation.

Kahoko gazed the room and counted the number of boys in the room…1…2…3…4…5…6…7… again, maybe her answer was incorrect…1…2…3…4…5…6…7….

She rubbed her eyes and she could have counted from right to left or from left to right, the number was always 7… She already cursed her beloved brother… Reality's walls were broken and she bid goodbye to her simple life!

"I refuse!"

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Thanks for reading! I would really appreciate your review! Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee I need to know what did I do wrong or good ;)

This story is lingering in my mind for a while so finally I wrote the first chapter. I guarantee romance, fluff, humor and a little drama ;)


Next issue: Tabloids and prejudices

"Ne Tsukimori… I will sell the picture to the media if you don't cooperate…She's like a butterfly with silver wings..."

"I don't care… what do you want?"

"I just want to toy with a young man's emotions…"

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"Haha… let me read this! Haha… it's hilarious! Shimizu-kun is on drugs! Tsukimori is gay… and… am I a womanizer? Screw this tabloid!" Ryou prepared a paper airplane from the colorful magazine and let it fly from the window…