"We're finally back." Kitsuneme said, throwing himself on the couch.
"Yeah. Doesn't mean we'll get a break though." Mochu said.
"Yeah, we'll still have fangirls." Koko said. I sighed.
"We know how much you hate them, mate." Ruka said.
"Whatever. I'm used to them already." I said.
"That's the spirit, Natsume!" Koko said.
"Come on. Let's go pick our rooms. Andou should be here any second to fill us in on some stuff. We need to unpack anyway." I said. My friends and I all nodded. We make up a band called Crimson Abyss. I'm the lead singer. Natsume Hyuuga's the name, by the way. Ruka, my best friend, is the guitarist and backup singer. Kitsuneme, one of the two "twins" is the bass guitarist in the band. His "twin", Koko, is the drummer. We call them the twins, even though they are not related, because they think the same and act the same. Mochu is the dj and in some cases plays the keyboard. The Andou I spoke of before is the band manager. We're only sixteen and Andou is eighteen, but we made ourselves big really quickly. We had the looks and the talents so we didn't need much else to work with. Tomorrow we start school. It's not our first time in the school since we were born and raised in this town. But once we made it big, we had to do tours and stay in various places. We decided to take a break from that and came back here. We attended Alice Academy and are returning tomorrow. We can already imagine the scene. We come back and get swarmed by fangirls. End of story. I guess I should be unpacking though before Andou gets here. We're all living in one house together.
Next Day Mikan's POV
I woke up at six in the morning. Sure classes don't start until 8 o' clock but I have chores to do. I am the maid in this house anyway. Getting out of bed, I placed my ugly maid dress on over my pajamas. I got out of the shed, which is my bedroom, and walked into the main house. Putting on my slippers at the doorway, I walked to the kitchen. I began making breakfast for the three witches. It took me about an hour to make it because if it did not look like a 5 star meal they would make me do it over again and then, I would be late for school. Putting the three trays on a cart, I made my way to the elevator. I waited until it took me to the second floor. As I made my way down the long hallway, I stopped and opened all of the large curtains. Once arriving at the first witch's room, I picked up the first tray and brought it into her room. I opened the curtains once inside and pulled her sleep mask up from over her eyes.
"Good morning Koizumi-san." I said. I didn't really like greeting any of the witches but I had to, or out to the streets I would live. Leaving the tray on her bedside table, I left the room to repeat the process two more times. As soon as I was done, I took off my maid dress and ran to the Starbucks at the end of the corner.
"Morning Rika-san. You know the drill. Three decaf soy lattes please." I said. Since it was my routine to do this, Rika-san already had them set for me. I left the money on the counter and ran back to the house. I delivered a coffee to each witch's room while they were in the shower. Running back to my shed, I grabbed my uniform skirt and shirt and ran to the bathroom. I didn't really have time to take a shower in the morning so I always took them in the night. I brushed my teeth and did my business before getting dressed and putting on my shoes. I walked back to the main house. Standing in a line were the three witches. Shall I introduce them to you? Witch number one, my oldest step sister, Luna Koizumi. Witch number two, my other older step sister, Serah Koizumi. And the last witch, my step mother, Serina Koizumi. I hate all three of them but have to listen to what they tell me to do, or else I'll be homeless.
"Have a good day at school, Luna-hime, Serah-hime." I said with a bow towards both of them. I had to call them hime while in the house because they wanted to feel like princesses all the time.
"Have a good day at work, Serina-hime." I said, bowing towards her. I had to call her hime because she liked to feel as if she is still young. As if she ever was. They departed from my sight without another word, carrying their decaf soy lattes and walking into their limos. I ran back to my shed. I don't know why but the three witches make me tie my hair up in an ugly bun or pigtails and wear ugly glasses when going to school. And you know what happens if I don't listen. I have a messenger bag for a backpack. I took off my shoes and put on my rollerblades. I am not allowed to walk in the main house without a form of shoe because they don't want my filthy feet on their floor, and they most certainly don't want me rollerblading in there. I put on my helmet and off I went to school. I was faster than my step-sisters' limo because they had to stop at lights everything. I rollerbladed into the school and to my locker. My friends were already at their lockers beside mine. I put my rollerblades in my locker and put on my shoes that were in my bag.
"Morning guys." I said.
"Morning, Mikan." They all said with smiles on their faces, except for one, looking at me. Hotaru Imai, the one who didn't smile or greet me, and on the locker to my left, is my best friend. She is always shooting me with this gun thing she has. Though she is stoic all the time and shoots me with the baka gun she invented a lot, I know she truly cares for me. Next to Hotaru's locker is Nonoko Ogasawara's locker. She is smart and really into chemistry. She is sweet and independent and also one of the "twins" in our group. At the locker beside her is Misaki Harada. She is two years older than us and is like an older sister to me. She is really nice but if you mess with her, she can have you on the ground in seconds it's like there are ten of her when she's in combat. She taught me a few of her moves for self defense. On my right is Sumire Shoda. I call Sumire, Permy, because her hair is always permed. Permy tends to be really sassy and is a complete fashionista and fan girl. Though she is sassy and likes to make petty fights with everyone in the group, she really cares for us and wants the best for us. Cats and dogs have a strange liking to her. The locker next to hers is the other one of the"twins" I mentioned earlier, Anna Unemoniya. She is sweet as a button and could never harm a fly. She gives great advice when it comes down to hard times and she's a great chef. Anna and Nonoko are the twins because the complete each other's sentences, feel the same, and are like two peas in a pod. You barely ever see them separated. In fact, they have every class together. Next to Anna is the only boy in our group, Yuu Tobita. The boy is so sweet and shy with big round glasses. He tends to stutter sometimes and is really smart. He comes in second only to Hotaru in the class list. We call him Inchou sometimes because he is class president. Hotaru is vice- president but she doesn't like nicknames. While most of us are just invisible nerds to the school public, Hotaru is very pretty and blackmails people often, giving her the title of Ice Queen. All of my friends know about my maid life and try their best to help me through it. On our way to homeroom, which we all had together except Misaki, loud piercing screeches came from all the girls around.
"It's Crimson Abyss!" they all screamed running up to the entrance of the school. Me and my group of friends just continued walking to class. Once seated in our assigned benches I thought of the band in our school. Crimson Abyss. A group of boys that originally come from this town. They were all good looking but something about Natsume Hyuuga always grabbed my attention. I know exactly what it is. His eyes. His eyes, in every picture that I saw of him, they captivated me. They look as if they are staring straight at me. Analyzing everything I am. Right after that last thought, the bell rang and everybody filled in. Hotaru and Yuu shared a bench, with an empty seat to their left. Anna, Nonoko, and Sumire shared a bench. And I sat in a bench all by myself. Nobody wanted to share a bench with me, though that's perfectly fine. I don't need any more friends than I already have, and it gives me time to think to myself without people pestering me about how to do this and that every second, since nobody studies or bothers trying to learn how to do things. For example, every night I have to do witches one and two's homework. Narumi pranced into the room at this moment.
"Good morning, students!" he cheered. Nobody paid attention and nobody repeated the salutation. They were too busy gossiping about Crimson Abyss coming back to school here. They left for their careers at the end of elementary school, and they were still popular back then, but me and my friends were in a different class then.
"I guess you don't want to hear about the news about Crimson Abyss, then." Narumi said. Everybody halted their words and turned to the teacher.
"Boys, you can come in." he said. Natsume Hyuuga, Ruka Nogi, Kokoro Yome, Kitsuneme Ling, and Mochiage Okiyama walked into our classroom.
"The band will be your new classmates. I'm sure you already know their names so there will be no need for introductions and I will just seat them. Koko, Mochu, and Kistuneme in the empty bench in back. Natsume and Ruka next to Mikan. Mikan, please raise your hand." Narumi said. I knew that Narumi was a really nice teacher and all, but at the moment, I really wanted to choke him to rethink his decision. I raised my hand and everybody gasped.
"Why does she get to sit next to them? I'm going to be their wife! She's so ugly! That's not fair!" various girls complained. I ignored them and stare out the window.
"Now, now. It's my decision and today will be free period." Naru said before prancing out of the room. The band began to make their way to their seats. Before Hyuuga and Nogi could arrive at mine though, Luna and Serah ran up and glared at me.
"Don't you dare to talk to them or you're out of the house." Luna said.
"I wasn't planning on talking to them anyway. What would I see in a dumb boy band?" I said.
"Good that you know your place. And they're not a dumb boy band. They're not dumb at all. They're smart and hot." Serah said. I rolled my eyes and looked back to the window. It wasn't long before they were squealing at the people now sitting beside me.
Natsume's POV
A geek raised her hand. Ruka and I began walking towards our seat once the teacher pranced out of the room, but we saw two girls run over to the geek and begin muttering things to her. I don't know what the geek said but she muttered a reply and turned to the window. Ruka and I sat in our seats.
"Oh my gosh! Ruka, Natsume, we didn't know you were going to sit here! How are you? I'm sure you remember us. Luna and Serah Koizumi. Of course you wouldn't forget." Luna said.
"Who?" Ruka asked innocently. I heard the geek trying to stifle a laugh. It didn't seem to be caught by anybody else though. It must be because I'm right next to her.
"Luna and Serah Koizumi. Your first girlfriends." Serah said.
"We never had a girlfriend in our life. Especially not Natsume." Koko said, coming into the conversation.
"Oh. Well it's nice to meet you all." Luna said. The way they spoke was overly sweet, a tone many people take with us.
"It's not nice to meet you. You can leave now." I said. Their presence was obnoxious. My bandmates gathered around.
"I knew that the fangirls never leave us." Mochu said. I wasn't really paying attention to the conversation, but when the geek's face turned to our direction, it caught my attention. It caught my friends' attention too. Great, even the geek is going to fan girl us. She stood up, slid out of the bench, and walked right past us. She walked to two other geeks in the front row as three people that looked pretty normal joined the original three. I guess that must be the geek group of the class. I turned back to the conversation my friends were having, seeing as they all dismissed the thought.
Mikan's POV
This is just wonderful. Now I get to hear squealing by my desk today. From the corner of my eye, I spotted two people walking through the door. First Misaki came in, then Tsubasa Andou, Crimson Abyss's manager.
"I have to sit next to one of them." Me and Misaki said in disappointment from the minute she got in. I felt a glance coming towards a group and followed the feeling to Andou. He looked away once my eyes moved there.
"It appears that they like to analyze people in a classroom when they come in." Nonoko said.
"I don't mind them analyzing me." Permy said. I rolled my eyes.
"Whatever. Before you know it, they won't even know we exist. It's not like we're gonna talk to them anyway." I said.
"You're right." Anna said.
"No! I don't wanna go unnoticed by them." Permy said.
"You are such a fangirl." Misaki said.
"Why, yes. Yes I am." Permy said with pride. We all rolled our eyes except for generous Yuu.
"I heard Jinno is giving a pop quiz today and Misaki-sensei is going to partner us up for an experiment." Yuu said.
"I still wonder how you get this school information. Do you like listen in on staff meetings?" Nonoko asked. Yuu shook his head.
"Let's get our heads out of school stuff, for now. Let's try the topic of masquerade ball! I heard it's in one or two weeks." Permy said.
"How do you hear this stuff?" I asked.
"A magician never reveals her secrets." Permy said with a finger to her mouth.
"But you're not a magician." Hotaru said.
"On the other hand, Hotaru is. Who knows how she gets all those pictures of everybody and all that
information." I said.
"Yeah. It still kind of creeps me out how you do that." Yuu said. I chuckled.
"There's much about Hotaru Imai to be afraid of." Misaki said. We all chuckled at that.
"So Mikan? You going?" Permy asked.
"Serina will probably give me something to do all night. I probably won't be going." I said.
"But you have to go! I already made your dress. Hell, yours was the first one I designed and made." Anna said.
"I know, but it's not like anyone is going to want to dance with me. I'm invisible if you haven't noticed." I said, waving a hand in front of my faces as if it were a barrier of invisibility.
"You're not invisible, because we can obviously see you." Permy said.
"And nobody is going to know who you are. That's the point of the masquerade. Come on! Please!"
"Fine, fine. Just, let's not bring it up until it's actually the time of the ball." I said. They nodded eagerly. The girls really want me to go, seeing as I never go to any social events or school parties. The bell rang then.
"See ya, then, guys. I've got a class to attend, and hopefully he won't be in that class." Misaki said, gesturing a thumb to the oldest guy in the band across the room from us.
"Hoping it for you." I said. She nodded and headed out of the class.
After School Mikan's POV
You know, this day was horrible. I have every class with Natsume Hyuuga. And, it gets better. He sits next to me in every class. I carried my roller blades out to the forest beside the school. I really don't feel like skating in this get up. I took off my glasses, let go of my hair, and put my rollerblades on. Rollerblading out of the forest, I made my way down the street. It felt good to have the wind go through my hair and those glasses off my face. I was almost halfway home, when the street was clear of cars and I could cross. Mind you, I wasn't crossing at the corner. Just when I got to the middle of the street, I noticed a car passing in the lane I was just about to cross. I would surely had gotten hit by the car, had I not jumped up, flipped, placed my hand on the skylight to balance myself and landed on the sidewalk. Lord thank you for the great skating skills you gave me. After taking a second to breathe, I continued on my way home.
Natsume's POV
What the fuck was that? I turned the corner with my car, going at my usual fast speed, when I noticed a girl crossing the street on rollerblades. Her hair was loose and long and silky from the looks of it. Not to mention is was a beautiful caramel brown with honey colored highlights. I knew I was going to hit her by accident and that it would be all over the press. Surprisingly, the girl flipped into the air, placed a hand on our skylight and landed on the sidewalk beside us. I almost crashed the car looking back to see if she was okay. She just took a breath before continuing. That is not normal.
"That is so not normal." Andou said.
"You're not playing." Koko said.
"That shit was ghetto!" Mochu said.
"Much more cuz it was done by a girl." Kitsuneme said.
"That surprised me. I think even Natsume was taken aback by that. He almost crashed us." Ruka said.
"A girl jumped over my car. I think I'm allowed to be a bit surprised." I said monotonously.
"You don't sound very surprised, man." Koko said.
"He never sounds surprised." Mochu said. I rolled my eyes. We were pulling into our driveway when we
saw the rollerblade girl come into the driveway beside us. We didn't notice in which direction she went as we went in our house. We all immediately sat on the couch.
"Do you think we should apologize to the girl? I mean, she did just pull into the driveway next to ours." Ruka said. We all nodded and walked to the neighboring house. When we rang the doorbell, Serah Koizumi opened the door.
"Ahhh! Luna, it's Crimson Abyss!" she screamed. I heard two pairs of feet running, one away from us and the other towards us. The one running away was probably an old maid who forgot to do her chore or something, since I saw the back of her uniform dress.
"Natsume, Ruka, what brings you guys here?" Luna asked.
"Nothing. I think we got the wrong address. Thank you anyway, Koizumi-sans." Ruka said. Both girls passed out muttering about Ruka thanking them. We closed the door and walked back to our house.
"Maybe it wasn't the same girl. Or maybe we got the wrong house." Koko said.
"No, it's kind of hard to find people with that type of hair." I said.
"Since when do you pay attention to a girl's hair, Natsume?" Andou said, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Yeah, maybe you're in love." Ruka said.
"The girl avoided a crash by flipping over my car a few minutes ago and then skated into the driveway beside ours. It's not like I have short term memory." I said.
"You ruin all the fun in teasing you, you know." Koko said. I nodded and made my way upstairs to my
room.
A Week Later Mikan's POV
I was very correct about them steadily forgetting that my group and I exists. Misaki and I were both relieved for that reason. We were currently all eating lunch.
"So, today the principal is going to announce that the ball is this Friday." Permy said while picking at the remains of her salad excitedly.
"I see. Two things. Just because you're excited doesn't mean you have to kill your salad. And I don't think I want to go." I said.
"I will not hear such talking coming from you. Dress designs flowing into my head." Anna said covering her ears for a second.
"You're going whether I have to shoot you there or not. You attending might get me good money." Hotaru said.
"I didn't say I wasn't going. Just that I probably won't want to go, seeing as I'm a geek." I said with a shrug of the shoulders.
"Do we have to repeat the words "masquerade ball" fifty times before you get it in your head." Misaki asked. I sighed.
"Alright, I won't complain anymore." I said.
Natsume's POV
"So guys are we going to the masquerade ball this week." Koko asked.
"I guess so. At least, I'm going." Andou said.
"I guess we were all planning on going though." Ruka said.
"I wasn't." I objected.
"But, dude, it's the first high school event we're gonna have since we got back from tour." Kitsuneme said.
"And there will be hot chicks." Mochu said.
"You mean fangirls in slutty dresses throwing themselves on us?" I asked.
"Dude, it's a masquerade, nobody's…" Koko started.
"Gonna know who you are." Kitsuneme finished.
"You're going whether you like it or not, mate." Ruka said. I sighed.
"Whatever."
Serah's POV
I was walking past the maid's table when I heard her conversation. That is going to be a problem. I walked
over to Luna at our table talking to some of our followers.
"Luna, the geek is planning on going to the ball." I whispered in her ear.
"What?" she shrieked. Everybody looked towards us.
"Turn around. It's none of your business." I said. They all listened and turned back to their business.
"We are not gonna let that maid attend the ball." Luna said. I nodded with an evil smirk.
"We'll talk about it after school, then." I said. She nodded and I sat down to talk the usual gossip.