xX Chapter One Xx
xX A New School, A New Beginning Xx
xXx
Alice Academy of Performing Arts, one of the most prestigious schools around the world that has branches in every continent across the globe and home to the most respected and honorable performers in the world.
It's also my dream school. My best friend since childhood, Hotaru Imai, studies there.
In all honesty, I was envious of her when she told me she was transferring to AAPA—short for Alice Academy of Performing Arts—but, at the same time, I was happy for her and I greatly missed her. We would send each other letters or even call each other, much to my happiness. She may bully and blackmail me here and there, but I know she loves me just as much as I love her.
Judging from how I described its prestigiousness, it was obvious that it's difficult to get accepted into the school. I knew I had slim to zero chances of getting into the school, much less, a scholarship.
But that all changed when one of the principals of the school watched my performance in my old school. They offered me a scholarship, to which I accepted immediately.
It was a bit hard to convince my parents, especially my father. Basically, it was a boarding school and according to the school handbook, I was only allowed to go back home during the holidays or if there's an emergency, much to their chagrin—particularly, my father's. My mother was a bit more accepting with my decision.
I stand at awe, staring at the tall gates of the academy. These gates were massive, nearly the height of two and a half—or more—trucks!
I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. You can do this, Mikan.
"Ah, you must be Mikan Yukihira."
I turned to the speaker behind me. He looked young, probably in his 20's. He somehow reminded me of my father, with his fair skin, light blond hair and blue eyes. Quite handsome, to be honest.
"Yes, sir," I answered, my hands tightly gripping the handle of my trolley nervously.
He smiled. "Welcome to Alice Academy of Performing Arts. I'm Kazumi Yukihira, the director of the school."
"Oh, hello. It's nice to meet you," I said. It surprised me that we have the same surnames.
"Well, it is a coincidence, indeed," I heard him say. I blushed in embarrassment, realizing that I voiced out my reaction regarding our surnames.
"I'm sorry about that," I said sheepishly.
"No harm done, child. Well, let me ask someone to bring your luggage to the guest room while you don't have your assigned room yet," he said as a security guard took my trolley and carried it inside the academy.
"Would you like a tour of the school? I'll have one of our excellent students show you around," with that, a girl my age appeared.
She was pretty, with big blue orbs and curly, pink hair. Her stature was wonderful, with a slim waist and a tall figure.
"Hello," she greeted. "I'm Anna Umenomiya. Nice to meet you!" she said cheerfully as she offered her hand.
I smiled and took it, giving her a hand shake. "Nice to meet you, too. I'm Mikan Yukihira."
"Well, I'll leave you both, for now. Welcome to the academy, again, Mikan," and with that, the director walked away, not without giving me one last smile.
"Whoa," Anna said. "You have the same surname as the director! Are you his relative?"
"No," I answered. "It was pure coincidence."
"Hm, well you know what they say, there's no such things as coincidences," she winked. "Anyways, let's start the tour, shall we?"
xXx
"Basically, the Alice Academy of Performing Arts is divided into four main branches: the Elementary School branch, the Middle School branch, the High School branch and Central Town," she explained as we walked along the paths of the school. "There's a college school for AAPA, but it's located in another country. That is where the best of the best learn to be even better performers if they want to learn more—if it's even possible. The world class performers of today practically came from there. But the choice is basically optional."
"That's the Elementary School branch. The principal's Jinno-sensei. He's pretty cold and strict so watch out for him," she said as she pointed to one of the huge buildings of the academy. "Pretty much, this is the department for the ones ages three to twelve, a.k.a. child stars."
"Is that where most of the students start off here?" I asked.
"Yup, and most of the successful performers of this generation started off from this branch. Even I did," she said. Great, I'm an outsider.
"Next one is the Middle School branch, headed by Himemiya-sensei," she said, pointing to the building across the Elementary branch. "That's where the ones from ages thirteen to fifteen stay, a.k.a. tween performers."
"Next is the High School branch, where you and I stay. It's headed by Shiki Masachika, Himemiya-sensei's distant relative," she said. "This is where the ones ages sixteen to nineteen stay, a.k.a. teen idols."
"That area over there is Central Town," she said, pointing to some sort of area with different stores and et cetera. "Just as the name explains itself, this is a town for all of us. Sometimes, there are performers who are famous but still studies here so the media can be pretty… annoying and disturbing. So this was built for the safety and enjoyment of all the students."
"Whoa," I said, amazed by all the information I'm absorbing.
"I know what you feel," she said, nodding.
"This academy has everything," I mused.
"They do give the best of the best," she shrugged.
"Moving on," she continued. "Every student here is called a talent, and every new talent is asked to do an audition test."
I raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"
"An audition test is, of course, a performance test. It determines your rank of excellence," she answered. "There are four ranks, a single star, a double star, a triple star and a special star."
"The single stars are for the talents with potential, but they need more training to become double stars," she explained. "The double stars are for the talents who are developing. Better than single stars, of course."
"The triple star, on the other hand, is an honor already. Basically they're the great performers of the school, but they're not ready to be the best of the best," she said. "I'm a triple star."
"Wow," I said. "That's pretty amazing."
"I'm grateful enough to be a triple star," she told me. "And pretty much, I still have a lot to learn."
"The final rank, is the special star. It's practically the most rare rank of all. Only four of us have that rank in this whole academy," she said. "That's how rare it is."
"I'm quite sure that I'll be a single star, considering my amateur experience on performing," I sighed.
"Don't worry," Anna told me. "I'll help you. We're friends now!"
I smiled at this. "Thanks, Anna. I really appreciate it."
"That's what friends are for!" she giggled.
"Anyways, shall we go to the High School branch?" she said, offering her arm to me. I hooked my arm around hers and smiled.
"We shall."
xXx
"Now that I've told you about the basic school stuff," Anna said. "I shall explain to you the social stuff in our branch."
I raised an eyebrow. "Social stuff?" I asked.
She nodded. "In this branch, there are, of course, the popular cliques."
She pointed to a group of girls by the lockers, giggling and wearing patches of clothes—well, if I even have to call them clothes. They're practically strips of clothing covering their chests and asses!
"Those are the WaNa duo, a merge of the two names of the two group members. Pretty lame name, though," she said. "They're the mean girls of the school and they're the most popular girls. Luna Koizumi, is the school slut. She's got every boy in this school do 'it' with her if you know what I mean—well, most boys." She pointed to the girl with strawberry blonde hair, cold blue eyes and a beauty mark below her lips.
"That girl is Wakako Usami," she said, pointing to the girl with short hair beside Luna. "Basically they're two wannabe singers who actually don't know how to sing, hence, they're just double stars since they graduated to high school and the school added one star for both of them just because they pity them."
I made the immediate decision to avoid those two as much as possible. I really don't want any trouble.
I looked around and saw a group of talents who caught my eye.
"Who are they?" I asked Anna.
She smirked. "The Crimson Ivy, the most popular boys of the entire school. Handsome, talented and confident."
"Kitsuneme, also known as Kitsu is the disc jockey of the band," she said, pointing to the guy with dark sandy blond hair. "Next is Kokoro Yome, also known as Koko, is the drummer of the band." She pointed to the guy with a lighter shade of sandy blond hair.
"Beside him is Yuu Tobita, the bassist… and my boyfriend," she giggled, pointing to the blond guy with glasses. "Then there's Tsubasa Andou, the rhythmic guitarist of the band," she continued, pointing to the guy with a star tattoo underneath his eye.
"Next is Youichi Hijiri who plays the keyboardist of the band." She pointed to the guy with silver locks. "Then there's Ruka Nogi, the lead guitarist of the band." She pointed to the blond haired guy. Hmm… wait a sec, he looks familiar… but I can't pinpoint how.
"And last, but not the least, there's Natsume Hyuuga, hottest boy of the whole campus and lead singer of the band," she said, pointing to the guy with beautiful crimson red eyes and jet black hair.
Out of all of them, the Natsume Huuuga guy stood out the most. I turned away before he caught me staring and asked Anna to move on with the tour.
"Why? Can't take their hotness?" she teased.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "No, I was afraid they'd catch me staring and I really don't want any trouble," I sighed.
"They really have no problem with girls staring at them," she winked. "They're practically used to it."
"I have better things to do than just stare at those boys," I told her. "And besides, I have an audition test to worry about."
"Well," she said. "Your audition test is probably later this afternoon. You can practice in my band's room if you'd like?"
I smiled and nodded. "If it's okay, though."
"No big deal," she shrugged. "My band's not having practice today anyway."
She stopped in front of a door that has a gold plaque. Engraved on it was "Innocent Sirens".
"Is that your band name? 'Innocent Sirens'?" I asked. She smiled and nodded, opening the door.
"According to the books I've read before, Sirens were beautiful women. They lure people and enchant them with their voices. They're pretty seductive as well," she winked. "And that's what we want to do with our music. We want to lure and seduce people using our music. Enchant them."
"Wow," I said. "Quite a historical background for the band name."
"I know, right?" she giggled.
The band room was empty, perfect for practicing alone.
"We have a soundproof room right there. I'll stay here if you need anything else," she said, plopping down the couch and taking a magazine.
I smiled. "Thanks, Anna!"
"Don't mention it!"
I went into the soundproof practice room, staring at the different instruments lying around.
"Maybe I could…"
I grabbed an acoustic guitar, positioning my hands and strumming a bit.
"How does it go again… oh yeah."
And with that, I sang.
xXx
"Anna?" I called out to the girl sitting on the couch in our band room. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, hey Hotaru! I'm just waiting for the new talent to finish practicing in our soundproof room," she said.
I glowered at her. "In our soundproof room? Where our instruments are?"
"It's fine, I don't think she'll break them," she shrugged.
I sighed, grumbling profanities as I stomped over to the soundproof room. I was surprised with what I saw.
My idiotic best friend, Mikan Yukihira, singing.
I wasn't surprised that she transferred to the same school as me. I was surprised with another thing.
She never sang.
Ever.
I creaked the door slightly to hear her voice. Unfortunately, she heard it and snapped to my direction.
A grin broke off on her face. "Hotaru!" she said, standing up and running to me. Instead of pushing her away like I always do, I let her engulf me in her hug instead. In all honesty, I missed her so much.
"I missed you so much," she sighed.
"I missed you too, idiot," I said, patting her back gently.
She pulled away, the same grin on her face. "I'm so excited to be in the same school as you!"
I smiled ever so slightly. "Me too, Mikan."
"Mikan? Hotaru? You know each other?" Anna said, suddenly appearing beside us.
I smiled and nodded. "Hotaru's my best friend!"
She smiled. "Well, I have a favor to ask of you, Mikan."
She raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"I'd like to hear you sing, if that's alright," she said.
Mikan shrugged. "Alright then."
"Anna? What's this for?" I asked her.
She sighed. "You know we need a lead singer for our band. We need one, so let's see if she has skill."
Mikan took the guitar again, strumming and breathing deeply, before singing.
Little House (Amanda Seyfried)
I love this place
But it's haunted without you
My tired heart
Is beating so slow
Our hearts sing less
Than we wanted
We wanted
Our hearts sing 'cause
We do not know
We do not know
.
To light the night
To help us grow
To help us grow
It is not said
I always know
.
You can catch me
Don't you run
Don't you run
If you live another day
In this happy little house
The fire's here to stay
.
To light the night
To help us grow
To help us grow
It is not said
I always know
.
Please don't make a fuss
It won't go away
The wonder of it all
The wonder that I made
I am here to stay
.
I am here to stay
.
Stay
After the last strum, I was surprised with Mikan's voice. It sounded so… peaceful and innocent. But at the same time, empowering and enchanting.
It was perfect for our band.
"Mikan-chan," Anna said. "I have an offer to give you."
"What is it?" she questioned. She shared a look with me and took a deep breath.
"Would you, Mikan Yukihira, be interested to join our band?"
