Author's Note:

I just read over the previous chapter and nearly screamed. I made sooooo many mistakes, so I must apologize to everyone who had this crap shoved down their throat. First of all, Hiroshima was the easiest last name (I'm pretty sure it's a place, though). Also, I'm putting Mariella by Kate Nash into this chapter. The ong was just showed to me by a friend, and I'm positive she's smirking this very moment as she reads this crapola. Plus, Tomoka is going to the same art school as Sakuno, only as an actress/singer. Another maid, Sakura, is going there, too. She's mute, but she can play drums, and she can do anything with a pencil and crayon (In my language, that means she's an artist, not that anyone can understand Selbenese, or is expected to). Sakuno can play violin, and she can do a bit of piano and guitar. She can sing, she's just too shy to play instruments or sing in front of anyone other than Sakura and Tomoka.

Well, here it is!

Chapter 2:

"Sakuno!" Tomoka yelled after her when her shift was done.

"What is it, Tomo?" Sakuno asked as she walked back to her room. It was in the way back of the house on the fifth floor, which was the highest.

"You know I have an audition tomorrow! I need you and Sakura to help me! Also, we have something to tell you," Tomo explained.

"Have you chosen from the acts we've practiced?" Sakuno asked.

"No! That's why I need you, Sakuno-chan," Tomo exclaimed.

"I think…that…" Sakuno began. Tomo stared at her, daring her to finish. "Mariella- y'know, the English song- would be very nice and theatrical for an audition. I want you to succeed, Tomo-chan."

"Now that I'm done begging," Tomoka said, "you and I can stop with the titles."

The two of them made their way back to Sakuno's room to find Sakura sitting on the bed. "Sakura! You beat us here," Tomo laughed. Sakura smiled and giggled a bit.

Sakuno smiled shyly. Sakura's hair was soft and shiny, and it was black all the way down to her waist, where she had pink highlights streaking through it. She wasn't pretty or gorgeous- she was just cute. Her eyes were a deep blue color.

"Let's go find the room with the piano before we're spotted." Tomoka led them out, and they headed down several cases of stairs. They finally reached the basement, and opened the door to the room with the ancient instruments and stage equipment.

In the meantime:

Ryoma was sitting in the huge hall that was called the 'living room'. He heard footsteps and glanced in their direction. A door he hadn't noticed before was being opened by a girl with two ponytails. She kept shifting her eyes from left to right. She seemed familiar, but she didn't grab his interest that much.

Behind her, a girl with black hair followed. She had a blank and dismissive expression on her face, as if she didn't suspect anything would happen in the next few minutes of any interest to her. She had pink highlights in her hair, and was wearing layers of clothing. She didn't look bad or good in them.

Next came Ryuzaki-san. She was blushing furiously and kept her gaze on the ground, as if she was trying to be invisible. When she was in the doorway, she looked left and right, saw no one, so she closed the door and descended into the basement.

In case you were wondering, he was sitting on a couch that was elevated by a balcony just above the fireplace. It had a perfect view of the three girls.

He was super-bored; you have to understand. Everyone else was with the paparazzi or had just gone out to mess around. Ryoma was all alone with nothing to do. So, he followed her. It was that simple.

The staircase, Ryoma noticed, twisted into a lower- but still clean- level of the mansion. He came to the door Ryuzaki-san had entered and slouched down by the door to eavesdrop.

"Okay, Sakura. Here's the deal. We're doing Mariella for my audition. So, as you may have guessed, I need you to play the drums. I think a few of the cooks said they'd come to help today. After all, we have to move a lot of stuff around, and we need people to help with that. They all go to the same school, so that's good," Tomoka rambled.

"I just thought it suited Tomo," Ryuzaki-san confessed shyly. Ryoma couldn't see anything, so he assumed the girl had nodded or just hadn't listened to the whole thing. He remembered Tomoka, and he really had never listened to her either.

He turned his head so he could see through a crack in the door. He could see them, but they couldn't see him at all. "Um, Tomo?" Ryuzaki-san murmured. Tomoka glanced back at her. "I-I forgot to tell you. The cooks are preparing the welcoming feast for the tennis players, so they won't be able to help you today. I think we could wake up early tomorrow and run through it a few times…maybe…"

"Sakuno," Tomo laughed. "You're so shy." Tomo then glared at the girl she had addressed as Sakura. "You just don't talk." The girl shrugged. "I can do it myself, then. Of course, I'd be lost without you two, but…I'm good."

"Tomo, don't forget to do the accent. It adds to it… I think," Ryuzaki-san mumbled.

"How could I not?" Tomo said. Ryoma knew he must be extremely bored. Ryuzaki-san sat at a piano in the back of the room and began to play. It started out slow, but after a minute it sped up a bit. Sakura was playing the drums, and Tomoka was singing and dancing…obnoxiously, he would remember if it ever came to his mind after this.

His eyes shifted back to Ryuzaki-san. She was still playing perfectly. Her cheeks had a slight blush to them, making him think of strawberries. She was wearing a white sundress with patterned flowers on it. An unconscious smile painted his face.

He recognized the sign that the song was nearly over. His eardrums felt like they would explode by the end. He knew that it was supposed to sound bad at the end, but the continuous 'ever's made him want to run away.

When it ended, he found himself in the doorway clapping for Ryuzaki-san and the others. "E-Echizen-sama!" Sakuno blushed.

"Ryoma-kun! I didn't know you were here. I should've known, though," Tomoka said. "This is Sakura Hinonishi! If you can get her to talk to you, good, 'cause I can't. She's mute."

Ryoma just nodded in her direction, and she nodded back, glaring slightly, but a smile played across her lips. He then looked over to the piano, but Ryuzaki-san wasn't there.

He then saw her hiding behind Hinonishi-san. He smirked. "Mada mada dane, Ryuzaki-san." Her face turned an even brighter shade of red, and Hinonishi-san smirked back at him.

Ryuzaki-san stepped out from behind Hinonishi-san, but ended up tripping on her own feet and landing right in front of Ryoma. "G-g-gomennasai, Echizen-s-sama!" He chuckled.

"You play well, Ryuzaki-san…Sakuno-san," he said as he left the room. Sakuno glanced at her friend, holding back tears- of confusion and embarrassment. Tomoka was grinning broadly, and Sakura seemed amused.

"Oh, right!" Tomo shouted, startling Sakuno. "We're tired of paying for dorms. So, we're staying with you in the room way upstairs." Sakuno thought of her small room and the three of them sharing it.

"I-I guess it could be fun," she stammered.

"You're darn right it will be!" Tomo grinned. Sakuno suddenly felt nauseous.