Freshmen
First day of classes meant mandatory self-introductions. One by one, students stood up and gave a few words, some many, but all were about themselves and their interests.
Rin always liked introductions because it helped her eye potential friends. Not that it really mattered what they liked or anything, Rin planned to befriend everyone in their class. She was not tagged as 'Miss Congeniality' back in junior high for nothing.
"My name is Maki Nishikino. I like to play the piano. Nice to meet you."
Now this – this was what Rin was talking about. Red hair, pretty face, amethyst eyes. A cold and mysterious air that caught everyone's eye. Very interesting. Very nyamazing.
"Wow…" Rin whispered to herself.
As Maki sat down after her three-sentence introduction, Rin found herself still staring at the redhead. They were seated on different rows: Rin was in the middle of the classroom while Maki was at the back, the final row beside the windows. With their distance to each other, Maki was oblivious that she was being stared at. Her eyes were also boring holes on the window, so she never knew that a certain orange-haired girl was gawking at her like a playful kitten.
At the end of their first day, Rin happily shared to her childhood friend and fellow classmate Hanayo that she finally found her first crush in high school.
On their second day, Rin was determined to be friends with Maki Nishikino. She didn't get to talk to her yesterday because Maki disappeared during lunch time and she was also the first one who walked out of the classroom upon dismissal.
But today was different. Today was the day that Rin will be friends with Maki Nishikino.
"Hi! I'm Rin!" she greeted. Rin made sure that she was wearing her friendliest and cutest and brightest smile as she looked at Maki who was currently reading a book. It was their free period.
Hanayo was also there with them by the way, just standing behind Rin with her head down and hands clasped together. She was dragged by Rin to Maki's seat despite her cries of shyness and despair about not being able to eat her free period rice ball.
Seconds flew by and Maki finally lifted her head up to Rin with an unamused mask on her face. It was probably a resting bitch face, but Rin didn't know how to distinguish those.
"Let's be friends, nya!"
Maki closed her book heavily and stood up. She looked at Rin dead in the eye, totally opposed to the megawatt smile and friendly eyes.
"Don't talk to me."
And Maki walked away.
Rin definitely did not expect that kind of reaction from Maki Nishikino.
"Kayo-chin is there something on my face?"
"N-No, Rin-chan. I think… Maybe Nishikino-san doesn't like people?" Hanayo replied, her eyebrows scrunched up as she fixed her eyeglasses to her nose. She was also still thinking about her free period rice ball.
"She doesn't like people? Oh, I get it! Maybe she likes animals! I can be a cat- nya-nya-nya~" Rin's hands were raised to mimic a cat's paw.
"I don't think that's how it is, Rin-chan…"
Days passed but Rin still wasn't able to make a proper conversation with Maki Nishikino after the first interaction they had. The redhead was out of the classroom during lunch time, free periods were for reading books and she always left on the dot in the afternoon.
This didn't hinder Rin in staring at Maki, of course. Whenever there was a boring subject for Rin, which was all except P.E., she passed the time away by stealing glances at Maki. Sometimes it was longer than just a glance, especially when the teacher was out of the classroom because they were only doing some writing activity or book exercises. Either way, Rin enjoyed seeing Maki and her serious face during lessons.
When Rin got caught staring, Maki reacted to it with so much irritation and she always frowned at Rin or rolled her eyes. In Maki's head, she was already getting too annoyed that this cat-like girl who made friends with everyone in their class liked to keep looking at her. It was making her self-conscious, but she swore to never show that as much as possible.
But there were also some instances that Maki blushed over Rin's stare. Those were moments where Rin flashed her smile and waved at her the very second their eyes met.
Maki didn't know why, but it made her feel embarrassed and, what's the word? Flattered. Yes.
But she still didn't want to talk to Rin.
.
Music
"Rin-chan, I don't think we're supposed to be here…"
"Ssshhh! Don't be noisy, Kayo-chin! Nishikino-san might hear us!"
Rin and Hanayo were just beside the door of the school's music room, their backs bent halfway down to hide themselves from the glass on the door. Rin discovered that Maki Nishikino usually went to the music room whenever she disappeared, and this was according to some of their classmates that happened to spot Maki in the said room.
The two best friends froze on their feet when Maki started playing the piano. It was a sweet melody to their ears and they both looked at each other with smiles on their faces as it continued.
When Maki began singing to accompany the piano, Rin and Hanayo simultaneously dropped their jaws to the floor.
"She's really good…" Hanayo said.
Rin slowly straightened her back, not completely but just enough to let herself peek from the door. Her eyes widened with sparkles upon seeing the glorious image of Maki singing and playing the piano.
She thought she just saw an angel.
"I know, nya…" Rin whispered.
Starting then, Rin, and sometimes with Hanayo, frequented the music room to listen to Maki Nishikino's piano playing during lunch time and after their classes. Rin also suggested to Hanayo to have Maki help her in becoming an idol with vocal trainings, but Hanayo just freaked out and almost threw a rice ball at her.
Their music teacher was very fond of Maki because of her wide knowledge on the subject. She was fairly brainy on any subject but music was undeniably one of her favorites.
Maki didn't mind being seen as the teacher's pet, though. In fact, she really didn't care about what anyone thought of her at all.
The only thing she didn't like that much was when their music teacher always called on her after class when something was needed to be picked up from the faculty room.
Like today.
"Nishikino-san, please come to the faculty room later and get the handouts for your classmates. You can distribute it to them too," the teacher said. They were standing by the classroom's door.
Maki wanted to say, "Why not ask the class rep for that?", but she just said a plain yes. She didn't find enough guts to complain to the soft-spoken woman.
"Oh, it's a set of handouts for the entire semester so it might be a bit heavy for you. You may bring one of your classmates to help."
Great. Maki didn't know who to ask for that. And she didn't plan on talking to any of their classmates just for that.
She was about to tell the teacher that she can endure it alone, but apparently someone was listening to their conversation.
"I'll help her!"
Really great. It was the annoying cat girl. How Rin even got to the door unnoticed when she was supposed to be seated in the middle of the classroom was something Maki didn't want to know.
"That's nice of you, Hoshizora-san. I'll see you two later."
Their trip to the faculty room was very quick. Maki was almost running to get away from the annoying cat girl, which of course was taken as a friendly race by Rin. It only made Maki tired for trying to compete with the fast runner.
"I'll carry the most stuff, okay? You can bring this small pile, nya!"
"Fine."
Now they were on their way out of the faculty room. As Rin suggested, she took most of the bulk and let Maki carry the remaining ones, which were almost close to nothing. Maki was holding three hand-outs with twenty pages on each. Rin's number was around twenty-ish.
"Our teacher seems to like you lots, Nishikino-san! It's because you're so good in music!" Rin said, trying to start a conversation. She did feel a bit off though, like what she was saying were unsolicited. Probably because Maki was wearing a scary face, or as what some of their classmates called it, a resting bitch face.
But Rin didn't mind. It was finally her moment to talk to Maki Nishikino for more than a minute.
"I mostly like songs that are fast. Especially those that give energy for running, nya!"
"Do you ever stop talking?"
"Not really! I like stories. Do you have any stories, Nishikino-san? I bet you have a lot!"
Maki was about to directly tell Rin to stop talking but they were already in front of their classroom.
"I'll give the handouts to our classmates, Nishikino-san. You can go to the music room if you want!"
How did she even-
"Come on Nishikino-san," Rin grabbed the handouts from Maki's hand. "I got this, nya!"
Maki wanted to ask how Rin knew about her music room escape but the cat girl was already going around their classroom with the handouts. Hanayo was also talking to her now.
Maybe Rin was not that annoying. Only this time.
.
Sports
"Kayo-chin what should I do? I really want to be friends with Nishikino-san."
Rin pouted and hugged her knees closer to her body. It was P.E. time and Rin was waiting for her turn on the standing long jump activity today. Hanayo was beside her, legs crossed and happily eating her P.E. rice ball. The teacher didn't notice her munching on it even when they were also late because of talking with three sophomores at the alpaca den.
"But aren't you friends already? You said she didn't get mad at you when you brought the handouts together the other day."
"I don't know, nya! She was still wearing her scary face! I think she still doesn't like me…"
Just then, the P.E. teacher shouted Maki's name. It was her turn to do the practical activity.
Maki stood at the end of the sand pit. She took several deep breaths, and she slowly bent her knees to get her body's jumping position. After she swung her arms a few times, Maki jumped into the sand pit, landing on average distance.
Rin was awed by this. "Wow! Maybe Nishikino-san is also good at sports!"
Hanayo would have responded but she was busy thinking about her encounter with the three sophomores. And the rice ball needed more of her attention.
A few other names were called and it was Rin's turn now. Being the sporty girl that she was, Rin excitedly ran to the sand pit with little hops escaping on her toes. Maki was sitting with their other classmates and she was observing Rin intently on how the girl will execute her standing long jump.
I'm only observing her because she's always looking at me in class.
Rin did the same preparations as Maki, but the distance they made after landing on the sand pit was hugely different.
She's good.
Maki unconsciously smirked as Rin jumped on Hanayo saying 'Rin is the best, nya!'.
.
English
Rin was half-awake. Her eyes were lidded halfway and she was trying her very best to keep them open. It was discussion time for their English subject and no amount of ramen can even suffice for her hatred on the language. It also didn't help that English came right after P.E., which meant Rin was feeling a bit tired already.
"Ho…zora…san…"
Is someone calling me?
"Hoshi…ra-san."
I'm hearing voices, nya…
"HOSHIZORA-SAN!"
Rin shot her head up from her desk and looked on both sides of her with panic before finally facing up their teacher. She wasn't even aware that her head already fell down to her desk.
"Please translate the sentence on the board. Now." the teacher said, handing out a piece of chalk to the sleepy student.
Hesitantly, Rin walked to the board and held up the chalk in her hand. She understood the Japanese sentence in front of her but no English words were coming to her except I hate English.
The teacher finally noticed that Rin wasn't moving to answer at all, so she asked for a volunteer.
"Does anyone want to help Hoshizora-san?"
Nobody raised their hands. Hanayo was about to, but she got beaten by someone else much to her surprise.
"I'll help her."
Rin turned around.
It was Maki Nishikino.
The redhead stood up from her seat and walked over to the front. She took a piece of chalk from the table, placed herself beside Rin and started writing the English sentence in cursive letters. Rin was staring at Maki the entire time, dumbfounded that Maki Nishikino was the one helping her.
After Maki finished writing, she made sure to look at Rin first before she finally walked her way back to her seat. Maki was met by astonished eyes.
"Thank you, Nishikino-san. Please go back to your seat Hoshizora-san and try not to sleep again."
Rin returned to her seat, still wearing her surprised face. She definitely did not expect Maki Nishikino to help her, stand beside her and look at her in the eye at such close distance.
Maki Nishikino never did that to anyone as far as Rin can remember.
On her seat, Maki turned to the windows again and smirked. Consciously.
.
Idols
Hanayo went out of the classroom alone this afternoon. Rin was with the track club, probably getting briefed about the series of try-outs that will happen for hopeful members. She failed to convince her best friend about joining the school idol group with her so she also needed the time alone to think about her next move.
The rice lover was about to fully step out of the classroom when she saw Maki reading a flyer in front of the notice board. After Maki walked away, Hanayo skipped her way to where the redhead was previously standing and saw something on the floor.
"This is hers," Hanayo said as she opened the small booklet with Maki's information. She was in the middle of walking down the stairs when an idea suddenly hit her.
"I should call Rin-chan!"
Hanayo quickly dug for her phone inside her bag. After tapping on Rin's number, she held the phone to her ear and was met by the usual ringing sound on the other line.
Unfortunately, it kept getting directed to voicemail.
"She must be busy…"
Hanayo finally decided to return the booklet to Maki by herself.
The visit to Maki's house was quite pleasant. It was also surprising since Hanayo was able to see a different side to Maki apart from the usual cold and snobbish behavior she had in school. She was even offered by Maki of her support in terms of being an idol, or simply with just joining the school idol group with those sophomores that she spoke with earlier that day.
Rin was right about having Maki to help her after all, she thought.
"Koizumi-san?"
"Yes?"
The two were still in the Nishikino manor's guest room, finishing their fancy tea and fancy cookies that Maki's mother prepared for them. Maki seemed to have warmed up already around Hanayo at this point.
"I-I'm just wondering… Why is Hoshizora-san not with you?"
Hanayo blinked fast. "Rin-chan?"
"Yes… I-I mean, it's not like I'm looking for her! It's just weird that you're not with her since I see you two together all the time," Maki explained, her eyes looking everywhere in the room while she played with the ends of her hair.
A big realization hit Hanayo like a sack of white rice that fell from the sky. She did wish that there really was a sack that magically fell, but right now it was just a feeling.
Oh. I see what's going on here.
"She has try-outs in the track club," Hanayo said with an innocent smile. In reality, she was really suppressing a knowing smile. Her heart was already jumping for joy for her childhood friend. "But Rin-chan would have loved to be here, Nishikino-san."
"W-What? Why would she? She'll just keep staring at me like how she does in the classroom. It's annoying."
"Rin-chan can be pretty stubborn sometimes, but she's really just friendly," Hanayo chuckled. "She likes you, Nishikino-san."
Woah there, hold up- Maki was pretty sure, no, very sure that she heard Hanayo say that Rin liked her. Her ears were good. It never failed her.
"What- What do you mean she likes me?"
Mother of rice. Hanayo just said something wrong, didn't she?
"Um! As a friend, I mean!" Hanayo squeaked, her hands waving around everywhere. "S-S-She really likes you… Ah-! Like I mean she really likes to be friends with you! F-F-F-Friends!"
"Please help me…"
Oh, Hanayo.
"WHAT?! YOU WERE IN NISHIKINO-SAN'S HOUSE?!"
Hanayo pulled the phone away from her ear. It's almost midnight but she still decided to call Rin to share what happened to her that afternoon.
"The timing just didn't fit, Rin-chan. You were on your try-outs and you weren't answering your phone. I was worried that Nishikino-san might need the booklet…"
"I trusted you Kayo-chin…" Rin sniffed. It was only for pretend of course. "So, so? What did you guys talk about?"
Hanayo then shared how her conversation with Maki went. She also told Rin how the fancy tea and fancy cookies were delicious, but she wished that were fancy rice balls too since everything in the house seemed so high-end and expensive. Of course Hanayo missed out on the detail about how she slipped. She knew Rin would barge in to her room faster than she can say sorry if she said that.
"You're so lucky, Kayo-chin! I wish I was also there with you. Maybe they have fancy ramen, nya!"
Hanayo sighed. "You should really just talk to her, Rin-chan. I'm sure Nishikino-san would like that."
"Really? Did she say anything about Rin?"
"Well… She looked for you. She said it was weird that we're not together…"
Rin jumped out of her bed at this. Hanayo knew because she heard a loud thud on the other line.
"Nishikino-san looked for me? That's so cool, nya!" Rin said, her excitement very apparent over the phone. "I will talk to her tomorrow! Thanks Kayo-chin!"
.
Priorities
While Hanayo loved how Rin was overly excited about finally talking to Maki again, she was still having her internal struggle about joining the school idol group with the three sophomores she liked. With this, she chose to take a breather first underneath the biggest tree in their school's yard after dismissal. The rice balls can wait for now and Rin was still talking to their homeroom teacher anyway. Her best friend will eventually find her there.
On the other hand, Maki was walking around the campus, trying to see where Hanayo was. She saw how the shy girl tried to speak louder than usual in their class today and she felt like she needed to give the support she promised to her yesterday.
Maki also wanted to see if Rin was with Hanayo now, but only out of curiosity of course.
After several rounds in the corridors, Maki finally found Hanayo on the school yard. She hesitated a bit in approaching the girl, but she went ahead still.
They were about to do their second round of vocalization when Rin finally came in running.
"Kayo-chin!"
Rin immediately saw Maki. And although she did say that she will talk to Maki Nishikino today, convincing Hanayo to join the school idol group now was more important.
"Nishikino-san? What are you doing here?" Rin asked innocently just to acknowledge the other girl's presence.
"She was cheering me up," Hanayo answered.
Maki looked away, embarrassed that she got caught cheering up Hanayo. And by the slightly annoying cat girl no less who wasn't acting too friendly towards her right now. She wondered if Rin finally got tired of troubling her.
"That's not what I was doing." Maki said. She expected a comeback from Rin but it never came.
Rin was tugging on Hanayo's arm now, telling her best friend how she needed to tell the three sophomores about her interest in joining the school idol group now.
Why is she ignoring me. "I don't think she should rush. She should build up some confidence first."
Nishikino-san not now, nya. "This is just between Kayo-chin and me, okay?"
The two exchanged words some more, sounding more than annoyed after every sentence. Hanayo was left in the middle of her two classmates thinking why they were even quarreling when it was already established to her that they're interested in each other.
She just guessed it was some misplaced frustration. Or something like that.
"Um, please don't fight…" Hanayo finally interrupted. She didn't have time for this when her idol life was on the line and when her after school rice balls were still waiting for her in her lunch box.
Unfortunately, the heated conversation didn't stop and Hanayo even got dragged by both Rin and Maki in going to the rooftop. She had no choice but to cry out loud.
"Somebody help me!"
.
Friends
And so Hanayo got accepted in the school idol group. Rin and Maki also got over their doubts about joining after getting convinced by the enthusiastic upperclassmen. The three sophomores – Honoka, Kotori and Umi – also informed them about practice schedules. Mostly it was Umi explaining it, and they can already tell that the upperclassman was strict.
But something was still not settled. Why were Rin and Maki quarreling earlier?
The three first years agreed to walk home together since they had the same routes. Hanayo felt the tension especially with how she was sandwiched by red and orange as they trailed the sidewalk. Nobody talked. Hanayo didn't even dare to grab her walking home rice ball from her bag.
Rin got fed up of the silence, though. She was never good in keeping herself mad or annoyed over someone. Most of all, she hated the quiet.
So Rin stopped walking, and the other two also did when they noticed.
"N-Nishikino-san? I-I'm sorry about earlier. I was panicking about Kayo-chin since our teacher mentioned that we only have one week left to join clubs. That's really bad, nya! I really want Kayo-chin to make her dream come true."
Aww, Rin-chan.
"F-Forget about it. I'm… I'm sorry too. For shouting at you."
Way to go, Nishikino-san!
Hanayo turned her head left and right and she saw blushes on both of her friends. Maki looked like a tomato much to her amusement, but it also amazed her that Rin turned red as well. She rarely saw her childhood friend as shy as this (except when it came to wearing skirts and dresses).
Their success today on both the idol group and their friendship only called for a celebration to Hanayo.
"I can now eat my rice ball!"
The three of them laughed together as they continued to walk home.
Later that night, Maki was pondering on whether she would text Rin or not.
They agreed to exchange e-mails and numbers before they separated ways at the intersection nearest to their houses.
When she finally decided to text the girl, a call came in.
Of course it was Rin.
"Hello?"
"Nishikino-san are you still awake?"
"I answered the phone, didn't I?" This idiot.
"I just want to make sure, nya! Anyway, would you like to go to practice together tomorrow? I can meet you on the intersection!"
"Why?"
Rin's voice dropped. "You don't want to?"
"N-No, it's not like that-"
"Kayo-chin was the one who told me to go with you, nya. She said she will go to practice on her own. She won't tell me why."
Maki paused. If it was Hanayo who told Rin to call her and bother her about going together to practice tomorrow, it only meant one thing.
"Fine. I'll go with you. But don't be late or I'll hit you."
Rin jumped out of her bed again. "Of course, nya! See you tomorrow, Nishikino-san! Good night!"
"Yeah. Good night."
Maki made sure to shoot Hanayo a thank you after she texted the meeting time to Rin.
It was probably time to address them casually, too. But Maki saved that for tomorrow's practice.
.
A/N: RicePana best otp. Bar none.
Thanks for reading!