Prologue

He stood up front with amazing poise, emitting excessive amounts of confidence and pride in his performance as he worked his vocals with all his might. Shaking not only my heart but the entire class' as well, this was clearly evident. The Idols and Composers were to create either lyrics or sheet music as homework assignments with only one night to work on it. I found it fairly difficult to do but I managed to pull through just fine. Ringo-sensei enjoyed mine but he told me that he could tell that it was written under high stress. I honestly doubt sensei would say the same for him though. His song perfect and he sang it exquisitely.

He'd began to hit notes that caused the tiny hairs on my arms rise, my toes to curl and a chilly breeze to rush over me. I couldn't help but smile as we made simple eye contact. He'd always sing as though he were on stage and we were all his adoring fans. But, in all honesty I was. Whenever we'd have to perform a song in front of the class, I'd find myself getting thrilled as Sensei approached the letter 'S' on his class roster.

As his song came to a close, I could feel the goose bumps slowly melting so to give them a boost I quickly rubbed my arms before joining in on the much deserved round of applause.

"Thank you, Shinomiya-san!" Ringo-sensei said as he clapped along with us.

The blonde bowed with a modest smile on his face. I watched him as he walked to his desk and receive a high five from Ittoki-kun.

'Today's the day...' I told myself. 'Today's the day I let him know I think he's wonderful.'

I'd never had an actual conversation with Shinomiya-san though. Come to think of it each time I try to approach him I'm either dragged away or something embarrassing would happen that would cause me to flee from the scene. I doubted he'd even known my name even though it was two and a half months into the school year.

I stared down at my fidgeting fingers and sighed.

'I'm hopeless.' I thought.

I blankly sat through the rest of the performances as I played possible scenarios in my head. None of them ended well. Shortly after, the bell rang but everyone remained in their seats since sensei spoke. He'd hated when anyone even began to pack their things while he was talking.

"...And remember to check the team rosters first thing in the morning, kay~? I've decided that each team will consist of two Idols and two Composers! Any questions or concerns? No~? Wonderful! You may be dismissed~!"

I quickly packed my belongings into my bag and tossed it over my shoulder.

'Hopefully, I get a much better team this time around.' I thought.

Last time, Ringo-sensei placed me in a group with two of the scariest composers in all of the class. He said he'd done it get me to lose that soft-spoken part of me and fight for a creative voice but that was really hard to do when I was constantly being told:

"Lyrics like that will never work for my music." or "Those lyrics are okay but they're much too mediocre for my music." or "Did you just learn how to write lyrics yesterday?"

Not only had that happened, the other Idol NEVER showed up to rehearsal. In short, we absolutely bombed on performance day. I can't have that happen again...The horrified expression Shinomiya-san wore that day was enough for me curl up in a ball and die.

The thought alone was bringing me flashbacks that made me want to hurl. But it was that expression that fueled me to beg sensei for a redo even if I had to do everything on my own, which in the end I did. I even won a smile from Shinomiya-san; He'd been the first to clap after I was finished.

As the class began to clear out I noticed Shinomiya-san standing outside of the door but he didn't seem to be waiting on his friends that he usually hung around. They'd actually passed him.

Wondering why, I slowly approached him from behind, "...Um, Shinomiya-san?"

He slowly looked at me over his shoulder, "Oh, Morikawa-san, I was waiting for you."

My heart skipped a couple of beats, "W-w-who? Me?"

'WHAT?! HE KNOWS MY NAME?!'

He laughed softly, which didn't help my heart rate at all... Nor my breathing. "Cute."

'Cute?' W-was he talking about me? Of course, he was!

"Aw, you're so red. You didn't think I'd pick on your little secret?" he asked in a teasing tone as he closed in on me. I knew he was tall but he made me feel like an ant next to him. I'd never realized he was that tall…I never got close enough.

I gulped hard, 'Did he catch me staring at him?'

"Um, well, I-I..."I stuttered.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about." he smiled, "I love Piyo-chan, too!"

"P-P-Pi...yo?" His outburst made me feel lightheaded, 'Oh, that's what this was about?'

I felt the color drain from my face as the dizziness worsened after realizing he was more interested in my hair clip than me.

"Huh? Did I say something wrong?" he asked in a worried tone.

"N-no! I'm sorry I thought you were about to say something ab-" I quickly shut myself up.

"About what?" he asked.

I shook my head, "Nothing! Piyo-chan? Oh, yeah my roommate bought this hair clip for me a week ago."

"Wooow! It's so cute~!" he said, straightening it in my hair causing me told freeze at the sudden closeness. "It suits you."

I felt my cheeks burning up again, "T-thank you, Shinomiya-san."

"Shinomiya-san?" he giggled before sighing, "I wish my roommate bought me cute Piyo-chan things. He says I have enough."

Bzzzz... Bzzzz...

"Huh?" he said patting his pockets frantically until he'd found his cell.

"Hello?"

"Oh, hi Syo-chan? I was just talking about you! Why are you using Tokiya-kun's phone?"

"Huh? No way! Okay, I'm coming now!"

I blinked repeatedly at the serious expression Shinomiya-san wore, it made him look even more handsome than I'd thought him to be before.

"I'm sorry about that Morikawa-san. I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow! Great job on your performance today by the way!"

"U-um…"

Before I could say anything else, he was already running in the opposite direction.

I sighed, 'That's actually what I wanted to say to you.' I thought to myself.

I turned around to head to my dorm and patiently await tomorrow.

-The Next Morning-

Idols: Morikawa Megumi & Shinomiya Natsuki

Composers: Kisaragi Ayame & Minobe Ryouichi

Both my heart and mouth dropped, there was no way this was real! There was no way I was really seeing this correctly! Me, sing with Natsuki Shinomiya?! There were no students around yet as it was just 7 am but my curiosity got the better of me and lured me here. I clenched my chest and began to breathe heavily.

"No way! No way! There's no way I can work alongside Shinomiya-san! I'm going to bomb for sure!" I said aloud to myself.

I felt firm yet delicate hands resting on my shoulders.

"Of course you can~!" I heard a familiar voice say.

I turned to see it was Ringo-sensei.

"Sensei, I can't! Is there any way you could change this before he sees?" I asked.

"I suppose I could but~ that would hurt his poor little heart considering he went out of his way to beg me to pair you two together~!" Sensei said.

"You're kidding!" I said I hoped he had but...

"I'm not! He was very avid about you being his partner this time."

He's lying. There's no way! This is a dream. It has to be. My subconscious was definitely playing tricks on me. I pinched my forearm as I spoke in attempt to wake myself.

"Sensei, please! I'll partner with anyone it just can't be him!" I begged now pointing at the board.

"Huh?" I heard a soft voice in the distance, "You don't want to partner up with me?"

I immediately gulped and toward the voice, "U-umm…" I said.

Ringo-sensei looked at me with a curious smile on his face as if to say 'Well, what will you do now?'

Shinomiya made a face that made me feel a lump deep within my chest and it was painful, "Is this true, Morikawa-san?" he asked, his voice was a mix between disappointment and hurt.

"W-w-well, um… I-I" I stuttered.

How embarrassing! I mentally kicked myself in the stomach for this.

Ringo-sensei cleared his throat, "Megumi-chan was here to voice her personal concerns."

"Personal concerns?" he repeated his eyes resting on me heavily.

"Right~, Megumi-chan?" Ringo sensei said before giving me a discrete nudge.

"Y-yeah! Concerns! You see, my voice has been giving me a bit of trouble as of late." I lied.

"Really? I couldn't tell yesterday!" he laughed lightheartedly.

I shrugged, "Oh well I had it under control then but—"

He smiled a broad child-like smile, "No worries, Morikawa-san!"

"I-I just don't want to embarrass you when we perform together…" I honestly revealed.

Only that was part of the reason…

Shinomiya giggled and rested his hand lightly on my head, "I doubt that would be that case. Yesterday, you were beautiful up there as you always are."

He—He…Always? He's been paying attention to me? He called me beautiful? No. Not me. he was referring to my performance.

"Which was why I begged Ringo-sensei to allow me to work with you!" he finished.

"You really begged to work with… me?" I asked.

"Yes!" he smiled.

"He did." Ringo-sensei confirmed.

I felt like an idiot, not just an idiot, a rude idiot! But how could I possibly do this without making a fool of myself in front of him? After seeing the look on face at that very moment though there was no way I could refuse him.

"So, what do you say Megumi-chan?" Ringo-sensei asked.

I smiled, "I'll do it!"

"Great! Let's do our best, okay?" Shinomiya-san said happily before high fiving me.

"Yes!"

Shinomiya-san smiled, "Then, I'll see you in class!"

And with that he was off, back to his dorm I assumed. I turned back to face sensei as I let all that'd just happened just now register. I released a sigh of relief and frustration. Sensei watched me with his bright blues before flashing me a weak smile.

"Ahhh… Megumi-chan, now may be a good time to remind you of a certain rule~…" he whispered.

"Gyah!" My face burned as I narrowed my eyes at him, "You—You did this on purpose?"

He smiled, "A nice twist, don't you think~?"

I felt a new feeling bubbling inside of me, a feeling of both embarrassment and even more frustration.

"A twist indeed… but when exactly did you—"

Ringo turned quickly his pink hair dramatically flowing as he quickly walked away, "At any rate~, I'll see you in class, 'kay? Mwah~!"

I clawed at my chest as I spun on my heel to return to my dorm to prepare for what I'd anticipate to be an interesting day. Exhaling greatly, I peeked over my shoulder one last time to sneak a glance at the board of evil. It was then that I'd noticed the bold print at the very bottom.

ALL TEAMS ARE FINAL!

"No love allowed!" I heard echoing in my head.

I felt my soul threatening to drift away from my body as that sentence played repetitiously in my mind. I began to march to my dorm.

…and so, marks the beginning of my slowly shifting world

As a student at Saotome Gakuen, 'for better or worse', you say?

I'll leave that to you to figure out….

…Until then, do you mind lending me your luck?

I think I'm going to need it.