DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to Hibike! Euphonium or its characters.

~ CHAPTER 1 ~

It was a cool, calm night on the campus of Kitauji University; the many young people dwelling within its halls were sleeping soundly in preparation for whatever responsibilities that awaited them once the sun rose on the horizon. Oumae Kumiko was among these slumbering students. The young red-head was curled up underneath her warm covers, dreaming of beautiful scenes and beautiful people. She unconsciously let out a deep sigh, sinking deeper into her warm bed; her dreamy exhale seemed to only add to the relaxing, quiet night that surrounded the school…

BRRNG BRRNG BRRNG

"Attention, students, this is a fire drill. Please exit the building through the designated areas in a calm, orderly manner. I repeat, this is a fire drill."

A unanimous groan could be heard from all the students in the building as they slowly climbed out of their warm beds and stepped into the cold evening air.

Kumiko, on the other hand, was still sleeping soundly.

Katou Hazuki, Kumiko's roommate, huffed as she began to make her way out of her own bed, turning on the light as she did so. "Kumikoooo," she groaned as she saw her unconscious roommate.

Lucky…

After putting on her bedroom slippers in order to keep her feet from completely freezing, Hazuki shuffled over to her friend's bed and began poking the other girl's face.

"Ku-" poke "mi-" poke "koooo…" poke poke poke

The red-head groaned and tried to pull her blankets over her head in order to prevent anymore pokes from disturbing her peaceful slumber, but Hazuki wouldn't have that. She quickly grabbed the blanket and flung it off the bed, causing her roommate to gasp at the sudden chill in the air.

"Hey-!"

Before she could protest any further, Hazuki began pulling her off the bed. "C'mon, c'mon. It's a fire drill and the quicker we get outside the quicker we can get back inside and go back to sleep."

Kumiko couldn't really argue with that logic (though she wanted to). Huffing, as her friend had done just moments earlier, she sluggishly got out of her bed and put on her shoes as she followed her friend out the door.

Looking at the clock as she walked past, she noticed that it was nearly 3AM.

They're trying to kill us.

The two girls stepped into the hallway and joined the crowd of half-asleep students exiting the building.

It looks like a scene from a zombie movie out here, Kumiko thought as she looked around, crossing her arms as she began to feel the cool breeze. There were dozens of people standing - and sitting - around the outside of the dorm building, all looking as tired and grumpy as she currently felt. Not really paying attention to where she was going, Kumiko found a spot under a nearby tree to sit until they were told they could go back inside.

She looked around and noticed Hazuki talking to Tsukamoto Shuichi and his roommate. Kumiko grimaced and looked away, she had never been able to understand was her roommate saw in her childhood friend. Kumiko had known Shuichi since they were little, and he hadn't been that bad back then, but as he grew up he got more and more annoying.

Maybe I'm being too hard on him, she thought for a moment as she looked back over at the pair, only to be met by Shuichi looking straight at her with a stern look on his face. She quickly dismissed her previous thought. Nope, he's annoying. She looked at him dryly before looking away again, I don't know what he wants and I don't want to.

Yawning, Kumiko closed her eyes and leaned against the tree behind her. Wake me up when we can go back inside, she thought to absolutely no one.

After a few minutes, the red-head heard a sigh come from her right. Kumiko opened her right eye to be greeted by a sight she had definitely not been expecting.

Immediately to her right, in all her glory, stood Kousaka Reina. However, it was not the person nor the proximity that caused Kumiko to go red from head to toe; no, it was the fact that, not only was Reina standing right there, but she also had on no pants.

No. Pants…

Kumiko swallowed hard as she willed herself not to keep staring, but that proved to be almost impossible.

This wasn't the first time that Kumiko had seen the dark-haired wonder that stood beside her, in fact, they had several classes together; and she reacted pretty much the same way internally whenever she saw her. Kousaka Reina was, for lack of a better word, extremely hot. Her skin was a pale, creamy color that looked so soft that it would put every baby's bottom to shame. Her hair was long, shiny, and very black - but somehow it didn't make her look sickly pale. No, Reina still managed to shine like the north star on every occasion. Even now: half-asleep, hair pulled into a messy bun with a whole section out of the tie, an old t-shirt, and penguin-covered underwear - Reina still looked exquisite.

Unaware that she was still staring, Kumiko noticed how completely unphased the other girl - no, woman - was at the fact that she was half-naked in front of half of the school. Though she did seem cold, which makes sense considering the whole no pants thing…

Kumiko chuckled nervously to herself as she continued to basically check out the woman beside her. However, her laughter quickly ceased when she looked towards Reina's face only to meet her steady gaze. The red-head's throat went dry under the scrutiny of the other woman, feeling every bit like a deer caught in the headlights.

Is she mad? She's gotta be mad, Kumiko panicked internally as the black-haired beauty continued to look at her with a blank expression. Totally mad…

As if hearing the cry let out within Kumiko's head, the announcement was then made that the students could go back inside. Reina immediately looked away and began walking back towards the building as the announcement was made.

As if released from a spell, Kumiko let out a breath of air. Woah.

She watched the penguin underwear-clad Reina as she headed back inside, either not noticing or not caring about the stares and snickers that followed her as she passed the other students.

At that moment, Hazuki joined her roommate and followed her gaze. "Wow, she really doesn't care about anything, huh?" she said with a chuckle, looking back at Kumiko, only to find her gone. "Wha-? Kumiko?"

The red-head in question had already begun making her own way back into the dorm building and, as if against her own will, was following Reina.

At least we live on the same floor, so this isn't too weird…

Even under that reasoning, the red-head still felt like a creep. However, she knew she wouldn't stop. When she saw Reina, it was like she was under hypnosis and the only thing she could see, hear, think about was Reina. Reina, Reina, Reina…

The two had never spoken, never even made eye contact before that night. They had three classes together and they sat on opposite sides of the room in all of them, but Kumiko always made sure to sit behind the other so that she could look at her without having to turn around. Needless to say, the red-head had a very hard time concentrating in those three classes.

She already knew where Reina's room was, it was only five doors down from her own, on the left. She had seen the her leave there on many occasions, whether she was going to class, to do laundry, or go to her part-time job. In fact, Kumiko had subconsciously began going out for errands or to "get some air" at the times that she had usually seen the other walk out of her room. The dark-haired woman had held the door open for her one day as they left the building at the same time. Kumiko had blushed profusely, but she was sure the other didn't notice (or she hoped, at least).

Basically, the two were strangers. Kumiko knew that, she knew it better than anyone. Nevertheless, she continued to follow Reina up the stares, with no idea why or what she was even planning to do once they reached the other's room. Almost there…

Reina reached their floor and made her way to her own room, Kumiko followed.

Reina stopped at her door and began unlocking the door, but stopped when she noticed a presence beside her. She looked up and saw a blushing Kumiko standing a few feet from her with a determined yet scared look on her face.

Kumiko opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it. She opened it again, again, and again, but still nothing came out. Reina waited patiently with that same blank look on her face as before.

The red-head swallowed hard and said the first thing that came to mind.

"I-I like your underwear!"

Silence.

Oh my god.

The two looked at each other, both with similar looks of surprise on their faces (though Kumiko may have looked a bit more surprised).

"U-um.." Kumiko tried to salvage the situation, but frankly she was afraid of what else she might say. So she settled for sputtering a Goodnight! and scurried off to her own room, not daring to look behind her.

After getting into her room as quickly as humanly possible, Kumiko paused and leaned against the door. She then groaned and covered her face with her hands, completely immersed in embarrassment. "I like your underwear"?! What was that?!

Letting out another long, miserable groan, Kumiko made her way to her bed and fell (well, flopped) onto it, grabbing her blanket and hiding underneath it. She groaned once more before sticking her hand out from the cover to turn off the light, ready to fall back asleep and forget the night completely.

That settles it, I'm never talking to her again.

With that thought, Kumiko did her best to sink back into a peaceful slumber (albeit not nearly as peaceful as before). However, unbeknownst to Kumiko, her dark-haired counterpart five doors down fell asleep with a much different thought in mind.