Bitter but Sweet

Rating: T

Summary: Nishikino Maki is the president of the disciplinary committee. She is respected by the whole student body. One day however, a new transfer student would come without any summation and would turn her peaceful days into adventures in hell. RinMaki as main pairing with sides of HonoUmi and NicoEli!

Requested by: Nyaanyarin

Genre: Romance/Friendship, Humor, Angst

Disclaimer: I would gladly sing it on every roof if I owned Love Live; but unfortunately, it's only possible in my dreams…

[-x-x-x-]

It was autumn. The students switched back in their long-sleeves shirts and blazer. The leaves started to turn in a brownish-brown as the girls of Otonokizaka high walked toward their school.

Near the school gate stood the members of the disciplinary committee. Their mission was to assure that every student was properly dressed and were acting properly. The small group of three girls inspected each student's uniform. Once they made sure everything was in order, they let them pass.

The taller among the three let go of a sigh as she watched her red-head friend inspect each student. "Come on, Maki! You don't have to be that strict. I am sure everyone already knows that you are a real rule maniac and no one would dare to offend you."

"I can't help but to agree with Eli." The blue-haired member commented. "Everyone knows how strict we disciplinary committee members are. They know more than well that they better act well." That was when her eyes caught on the figure of a really annoying person walking in their direction.

"Hi, Eli-chan; Umi-chan and Maki-chan!" the ginger-haired girl said.

"Honoka!" the girl whose name was Umi got irritated while inspecting her childhood friend's attire. The energetic girl wasn't wearing the school's dark-blue blazer and was wearing a short-sleeved shirt instead. "May I ask what this attire is? Why aren't you wearing the school uniform properly?"

"Jeez… Umi-chan, you stress too much." Honoka did care less and just patted the taller girl's shoulder and walked past her, interrupting her before the blue-haired student could say anything. "Yeah! I know, I know! One hour of detention for breaking school rules." She jokingly said and walked toward the school building."

The three members of the disciplinary committee just watched her in horror. Eli was the first to break the silence as she let go of some giggles. "Well… Honoka is an exception."

The two other cursed inside by the ginger's antics. "Seriously, she already got five warnings. Why isn't she kicked out from this school yet?"

"Who knows…?"

That was when the second rebel of Otonokizaka and also a rebel to the committee's figure walked closer. The taller girl decided to take the matter in hand.

"Heya, Eli? Good day, isn't it?" the petite raven-haired girl jokingly saluted. "Still doing playing the sentinel as I can see… I say you should play gladiators or assaulter next time." She laughed at her own joke.

"Haha…" the blonde laughed sarcastically. "Very funny, indeed." She then gave the petite girl a death glare. "So, may I know what this pink cardigan and this are?"

Nico inspected her way of clothing. She was wearing a pink zipped in cardigan on the top and a black-and-pink skirt that sure wasn't the school uniform's. "Oh, this?" she pointed at her clothes. "My uniform got dirty and I couldn't find anything else to wear."

"Like hell I would believe that!"

"Well, well…" the petite girl just decided to ignore her and walked her way toward the school building. "Yeah, I know the refrain; you don't have to repeat it. 'One hour of detention for breaking school rules.'" She turned one last time to give Eli a wink before entering the building.

To say that Eli was irritated was an underestimation. She was more than angry. It was as if a volcano has erupted inside her. "That little imp! I swear…"

"Must be tough for you two…" Maki patted both girls' shoulders in a sympatric way. "…Having such rock-head childhood friend and classmate…"

Maki entered the first year's classroom minutes later and wasted no time before walking toward her seat. The other students, who were busy gossiping seconds ago, became quiet at the red-head's arrival. They all returned into their respective seat.

As the red-head sat on the chair behind her desk, her childhood friend decided to greet her. "Good morning, Maki-chan!"

"Good morning, Hanayo!" the well-respected student replied with a bored and tired tone.

"What's wrong, Maki-chan? You look really tired." The shy girl asked in a concerned tone. "Did you run on some lawbreakers again?"

"Yeah! We ran on Honoka and Nico-chan again! Sometimes I wonder why they are so stubborn…"

Hanayo was about to say something, but held her words as the teacher walked inside the classroom and the responsible students ordered the morning saluting ritual before starting the day. The brunette decided to save what she was about to say later.

"Good morning, everyone!" the female teacher started as she readjusted her big round glasses. "Today, we have a new transfer student." She turned to the door. "You may come in!"

Not long after, the door slid open and an orange-haired girl walked inside the classroom. Some students couldn't help but to share some gossips while some were watching the new incomer in admiration.

Maki inspected the new transferred student who was writing her name on the blackboard. She had past-ear orange hair and yellow pair of eyes. She always had this cat-like smile on her face and it suited her. As for her outfit, she was wearing a dark-blue short instead of the skirt, but other that that, everything was in order.

After writing her name on the board, the orange-haired girl turned at her new classmates and introduced herself. "The name's Hoshizora Rin! I used to go at a school in Nagasaki, but we had to move here at Tokyo due to our father's job. Rin's 15 years-old and loves cat and ramen nya. Rin hates fist and isn't good at foreign languages…"

"She's cute~" some students commented.

"She's breaking the school rules." Maki thought loud. "She isn't wearing the skirt. The use of a catchphrase like 'nya' is forbidden…. And on top of that, she spends too much time in introducing herself."

After being done, the teacher gestured Rin to an empty seat at the rear. She happily walked toward it and then class started.

Lunch time arrived and most students either gathered around one specific desk or walked out of the school building toward the rear and front garden. For the members of the disciplinary committee, it was time foe another errand.

They had to make sure no one picked a fight; no one went to the rooftop due to some reasons and to make sue that a certain duo stay still.

"Jeez… Umi-chan, you silly!" Honoka joked as she swallowed a loaf of bread. "You don't need to keep an eye on me 24/24. I already know how much you love me."

"Like hell I would!" the bluenette countered as she sat on the bench as well. "We have to make sure the two of you doesn't make something foolish. We don't want the 'cake incident' to happen again."

"Excuse me!" Nico inquired. "In my opinion, it was a huge success. Everyone enjoyed it…" she paused an instant as to swallow her choux à la crème before giving the three strict girl a bored look. "…well, except for a trio of killjoys."

And the five of them continued to eat their lunch for another ten minutes, until a certain cat-like girl spotted them and decided to run in their direction, her trademark smile glued on her face.

"Hey, Honoka-chan; Nico-chan!" she stopped in front of them. The two mentioned girl couldn't help but to smile back.

"Oh, Rin-chan; It's you!" The ginger stood up and inspected the shorter girl. "Look at yourself! You're almost a grown woman!"

"Yeah!" the ravenette stood as well. "The last time we saw you, you were still a crybaby who would hide inside Auntie's skirt at each occasion."

"Jeez… Nico-chan, that's a horrible thing to say!" Rin faked a pout. "That was only when we were still 8, so…"

"Wait!" Eli finally caught on her thoughts. "You know each others?"

The three smile girls looked at each other as if to have a mental discussion. "We're childhood friends!" Honoka started.

"But her family had to move away because of her father's job. We later got into touch again via internet." Nico continued.

"I see…" the cool trio was unsure of what to do right now. Should they be worried about a possible new menace AKA rebellious Rin?

"By the way…" the cat-like girl turned to the raven-haired third year and compared their height. "I am taller than Nico-chan, nya~"

"You little…"

And lunchtime ended without that many incidents. The smile trio just spent the whole time eating like elephants and talking about the past while the cool trio decided to just eat their own lunch while talking about school matters.

Soon enough, both Rin and Maki were back in the first year's classroom. Class began not long after with Maki occasionally stealing some glance at the airhead girl sitting at the rear desk.

"She's dazzling out…. She's out of focus… She removed her blazer? …What's so interesting about this ceiling? …She's sleeping?" the red-head let go of a sigh and decided to list all these facts in her special notebook. 'That kind of attitude is unforgiveable. At this rate, she would only get bad grades and might end up tainting Otonokizaka's fame.'

As soon as the last bell of the day rang, Maki walked to the new transferred student's desk and without any summation handed over a small coupon. "One hour of detention for misconduct in class!"

"Heeeeeeiiiii?" Rin almost jumped from her chair. "But what did Rin do nya?"

"You're not wearing the uniform properly, you sleep in class and you ran on the hallways! These are reason enough for us disciplinary committee to sue you lawbreakers."

The cat-like girl looked at the other classmates with pleading eyes, but for obvious reasons, they just turned away, muttering some "sorry".

"But… but…"

"No but!" Maki firmly said. "The disciplinary committee's clubroom; now!"

Seeing that resistance was futile, Rin accepted her fate and followed after the red-head. They walked out of the classroom, walked the hallway and entered another room. It was rather spacious with a huge table at the center and many chairs at the side. The walls were filled with books and framed pictures.

The petite girl was about to sigh when she saw four other people in the room. Both Honoka and Nico were sitting on a chair while both Eli and Umi were lessoning them about their bad hobbits.

"Hey, Nico-chan and Honoka-chan are here as well?"

"Hell, yeah!" the raven-haired girl cursed. "I say it they force us to go to that zero-fashioned room everyday. If they are in love with Nico-Nii, they should just say it and not loosing time doing boring things like this…"

Nico was about to continue when she received a smash on the head from the second year blue-haired student. "Quit it, will you? We don't like it either. We want to go home early to finish our homework as well, but because of you two, now three, our lives are like living hell."

"There, there, Umi-chan." Honoka patted the almost crying girl. "You stress too much again. At this rate…"

"Just shut up!"

Rin finally let go of the sigh she held back since earlier and decided to take a seat at the other end of the table, not wanting to deal with these lovers' quarrel. Maki sat next to her and took a notebook from her bag, ready to lesson her.

"I don't like it either…" the red-head said in a low tone. The orange-haired girl turned to her. "…There should be something better for me to do with my free time instead of tutoring the three of you."

Rin looked down and fidgeted with her short. "S-sorry about that… It's just that Rin was happy to be able to meet with Honoka-chan and Nico-chan after so many years. Plus, Rin isn't good with skirts and Rin can't handle heath. As for studies, they are so boring; I can't help but to fall asleep when I can't keep up nya…"

Maki stole a glance at her new classmate and saw the sad expression on her face. She let go of a sigh. "Fine! I will tutor you on your weaknesses and I will do it slowly. You better behave well. You should not be the kind of student who should be in detention."

"R-really…?"

"Yeah!"

And the two started studying some literatures and then Mathematics as Honoka, Umi, Nico and Eli were busy arguing about whatever came in their mind.

"Nya… I'm so hungry!" the six exited the school's building after one good hour.

"Sure thing!" Nico commented. "It was boring as hell."

That made Eli's inner volcano to erupt once again. "Whose fault caroused all this?"

"Why are you still so concerned about it, though?" Honoka asked. "I mean about the school rules. Don't you realize that sometimes, they are really boring?"

"We do realize that…" Umi sighed. "But we have to do it! If we don't, our school will fall in anarchy. Plus, there was this saying that is our motto; 'Noblesse oblige' and we have to do it because we were given the role."

"But even if you say that…"

Suddenly, Rin stopped dead in her track. The others turned to her.

"What's wrong, Rin-chan?"

She watched her two childhood friends and gulped hard as to gather all her courage. She was always the protected follower type. She would always follow Honoka and Nico everywhere they would go back then and never say anything… but it was time now… It was time to change!

"Rin thinks that rules can be fun at times…"

"Rin…" The ravenette stepped back and face-palled. "What are you saying? Did that Maki-chan do something to your innocence? Come back to earth, Rin! Rules are boring!"

"No, Nico-chan!" for the first time in her life, the tomboy diced to give her opinion openly. "I know that you care about me but…" she lifted her head to display a determined expression. "… I know that Maki-chan alongside Umi-senpai and Eli-senpai cares a lot about this school and the student s as well. They are always doing their best so each student would like a calm and peaceful high school life. They are in no wrong by being strict. It's their way of assuring everyone's safety."

"Rin…" Maki couldn't help a blush to form on her face. The two other members of the disciplinary committee soon followed.

"Rin-chan…" Honoka looked at her. She saw the image of a small girl who would cry every time they were apart, but right now, she saw a full-grown person. There; she realized something as a tear ran on her cheek. "I see…" She smiled. "You're a lot mature than us, now! Look at yourself, you're almost an adult! We are proud of you!"

Nico whipped her watery eyes as well. "To think that you would say something that wise… What did Maki-chan do exactly? Is she some kind of angel or such to transform our shy and crybaby Rin into a mature woman?"

The cool trio however was just watching at the touchy scene as both Honoka and Nico ran at their childhood friend to give her a bone-crushing hug. They couldn't help but to smile.

After a couple of minute, the smile trio broke from the embrace and they turned to the other three. "Thank you, Maki-chan!" Honoka started. "Thank you for giving us a better version of Rin-chan!"

Eli couldn't help but to let go of some giggles. "By the way you say it, it's as if you were Rin's parents…"

They broke in laugher after that comment.

"So…" Maki started after they stopped laughing. "Does that mean you three are going to follow the rules now?"

The trio in question looked at each other as to exchange a mental chat. They all had a cat-like grin on their faces. "Maybe (nya) ~"

"Ow; God!"

"It's joke!" Honoka said proudly. "Of course! We are the elders and we can't afford to loose to Rin-chan, be it in maturity… or in love." She winked at her classmate.

Umi's face reddened at the mention of the word 'love' and she muttered something like "shameless" or something like that.

The ginger smiled and patted the bluenette's shoulder as to make her lift her head and as soon as Umi straightened, Honoka pressed their lips together.

"Kyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Nico screamed.

Eli screamed.

Maki screamed.

Rin was confused. 'What are they doing? Tasting each other's saliva? Is that right? Isn't that gross? Is Honoka-chan hungry? Why are Nico-chan, Eli-senpai and Maki-chan screaming?'

Honoka pulled back.

And Umi… Umi fainted.

"Sorry, sorry about that!" Honoka said as she was rubbing her head in which Umi just gave a karate chop.

"Are you an idiot? What was that for? Are you trying to kill someone? Doing such shameless thing in public." And the bluenette continued rumbling like that for another ten minutes.

The others decided to continue their way. "It looks like these two are going to be at it for a while. Let's go ahead!" Nico initiated.

The four others decided to walk ahead without looking back. They soon arrived at an intersection and realized it was too soon to go home yet. It was only 15:00 (3 in the evening) because it saw Saturday and class ended at 13:30.

"So…" Eli started. "What to do, now?"

"Well…" Nico decided to gather her courage and take one big step toward maturity (?) as she thought and took a deep breath. "How about we go on a double date?"

"What!" Maki face-palled!

"Nya?" Rin was more confused.

Eli almost fainted.

One hour later, the two couples walked back home after spending some times at the arcade and the park. That was when Maki's phone rang. She pressed the green button as she saw who was calling her.

"Hey, Hanayo!"

"Hey, Maki-chan! I forgot to tell you something by the way… Kotori-chan told me yesterday that her Mom said something about the school shooting down after we graduate."

"Wait! What?" The red-head shouted. The other girls turned to her. "What do you mean by that? How come?"

"Apparently, Otonokizaka isn't getting enough application and the council has already engaged for the hypothesis of a closure. Kotori-chan told me that the announcement will be held next Monday."

"No…" Maki fell on her knees. She didn't see it coming.

"Maki-chan…" Rin watched her with concern in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

The red-head lifted her head to see three pair of yellow, ruby and deep ocean orbs turning to her. She gulped. "The school… is going to be shouting down."

"Say what?"

She then stood up and looked at the cat-like girl with determined expression. "We can't let that happen! We have to do everything in our power to stop that closure. Rin?"

"Roger, nya!" the orange-haired girl saluted, but soon realized that she didn't understand what was going on. "Un… Maki-chan…?"

"Starting today, you are going to be the discipline committee's vice president. Our mission will to make sure every student enjoy their stay this year, so they would make promotional put to their friends and younger sisters. If we get enough application, Otonokizaka won't go down."

"Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…."

[The end]

A/N: First of all, I don't really know how to write Angst stories, but I tried my best on this one. Please comment your thoughts. By the way, I go so much fun writing this. I had to admit that lately, writing has turned into an obligation and I got bored. That was when I found one special review that made me more than happy. By focusing too much on pleasing the readers, I forgot how funny it is to write for my own sake. Even though this is a requested story, I still wrote it for myself.

Maki: We're glad you understood the lesson!

Yeah! I won't rush things anymore. I will be going at my own pace from now on.

Rin: That's great, Yaya-chan, nya~

Yeah! By the way, I was wondering something… why does everyone think I'm a girl? I am mostly sure I already gave many hints that I'm a guy in some of my stories.

Umi: Maybe it's because of your pen name…

My pen name? You mean YayaSamuko? Well, as explained in my profile, Yaya is because I'm an ADD; Samu is because I'm different from the others and ko because I'm a spoiled child. That doesn't mean I'm a girl.

Eli: Talking about the matter, how old are you? Most people think you're underage, but you've already written M-rated story?

Well, I'd rather keep it a secret… but I'm actually 19. I wonder why people keep on thinking I'm 16. I'm pretty sure my stories are mature enough.

Maki: Enough talking about you!

You're right!

Rin: That's all guys, please leave a review if possible. All goes; be it concern, critics, questions or perhaps praise; Yaya-chan would be more than glad to answer to them all… but please no hate comment!

Yeah, I know *cries* hate comments are so heart-broking.

Anyway, see you next time!