For All the Stars in the Sky: A What if? Story

Written by: avekay

Rated: T (tentative)

The first days of summer had passed by without a hitch. Mizuki relished the feeling of not having to constantly keep her body hidden while around her family and friends back west (well, besides keeping the nature of her school from her parents, but that wasn't all that difficult). She had had to endure the typical interrogation from ever-doting brother Shizuki, who was still horrified at the idea of her living amongst men, as well having Julia constantly asking how far she'd gotten with Sano ("Seven days a week for two entire school years, and you've barely scraped past first base? Give me a break!")

Secretly, though, Mizuki enjoyed such normalcy. On the plane ride back to Japan, the homesickness had nearly overwhelmed her.

So after two weeks of living life as a girl, Mizuki was once again forced to don her baggy disguise. She hadn't realized just how uncomfortable she was in her male clothes anymore until she'd been free of them for an extended period of time. Could she really keep doing this another year?

Mizuki awkwardly stretched her limbs as she climbed out of Sekime's minivan. Somehow, Sano, Nakatsu, Kirishima, Kayashima, Noe, Sekime, Nakao and herself had fit managed to squeeze inside for the trip to the seaside inn.

She had been squished up against Sano… something she didn't necessarily dislike. It rather effectively ruined the mood, however, having a sleeping Nakatsu's elbow jabbed into her side. This combined with Noe's reclining of his seat further and further back in order to take a nap (giving less and less room for the couple behind him) made the ride feel agonizingly long.

Sekime looked harried from driving and dealing with a carload of irritable teenagers. "I am not looking forward to doing that again," he muttered as he retrieved his bags from the trunk. Nakatsu clapped him on the back in an attempt to comfort, accidentally sending Sekime's glasses flying.

"Don't be so miserable, Seki-san!" The energetic boy exclaimed, hauling a book bag over his shoulders, oblivious to the death glares drilling small holes of hate into his back. "With such great weather and the sea so close, how could anyone not be happy to be alive?"

"You'd be surprised. Has anyone told you just how loud you snore?" Sekime impatiently worked on bending his glasses back into shape.

Nakatsu's mouth popped open in shock. "What?! No I don't! Kayashima would have told me by now. Isn't that right Kayashima?"

Nakatsu's reserved roommate had already started towards the front entrance. "I meditate before bed every night to lull myself into a coma."

"…WHAT!"

Their light-hearted squabble continued as the group moved in through the mahogany double doors. It wasn't until they stepped into the foyer that the extensive renovations that had been made to the inn became apparent. There was a hallway branching off from the lobby Mizuki couldn't remember there being last time; it must have lead to a brand new wing. The floors beneath them were made of exquisitely polished marble, the walls were repapered, and an impressive fountain bubbled in front of them.

"Io-san really went all out on this!" Mizuki was in awe, staring at her reflection in the immaculate floor.

"I can't imagine how much this must have cost," Sano mused. He wasn't entirely sure he preferred changes, impressive as they were. He had liked that old-fashioned-Japanese feel. He could only hope the rest of the inn still maintained some of that feel. "Or how she could've afforded this."

"I'm glad to see you all got here safely."

Everyone turned at the sound of Umeda's familiar voice. He had arrived a day ahead of them (as per his dear sister's orders) to help prepare the other employee's quarters. His furrowed brow and uncharacteristically solemn expression gave away his concern over something as he asked, "Mizuki-kun? Can I talk to you?"

"Uh, sure," she replied, worried about the man she had come to see as a mentor. She placed her bags down and followed the doctor as he turned back down the hall from which he had come. She took a minute to shoot a confused look back at her friends before disappearing after him.

"Mizuki, my dear! I'll take care of your things!" Nakatasu called after her in a sing-song voice.

"Something's not right," Nakao pointed out as they started down the hallway towards the employee quarters where Io-san had set as a meeting place. He was struggling to drag his luggage down the hallway. He had seemingly packed his entire closet. "It takes a lot to faze that guy. Wonder what's got him all hot and bothered?"

Sano kept staring at the spot where Mizuki had been moments before, hardly listening to Nakao.

"Umeda-sensei? What's wrong? …Umeda-sensei?"

Umeda remained quiet, his face betraying no emotion, as they made their way down the hall. At the very end of the corridor, he pulled her into an empty room and tightly shut the door behind them. Mizuki fidgeted and waited for him to speak.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He never had been one to beat around the bush, so he got right to the point. "I don't know if you know, but my sister isn't the only owner of the inn anymore."

Come to think of it, Mizuki vaguely remembered her mentioning something about a co-owner, but she didn't interrupt as he opened his mouth to speak again.

"I have no reason to dislike the guy personally, but… his name is Ryo Makita."

Mizuki felt sick as Umeda's point hit home. Makita… she would never, ever forget that name. Takami Makita had nearly found out her identity after assaulting her that fateful night last summer. Had Sano not shown up… she felt a shudder course through her body at the implications.

Umeda was never filled in on the details of what had happened between Makita and the girl he had started to see as a sister, but he had put two and two together. "There's no way in hell that Io would allow Takami Makita to have his job back, but with his father owning half the place, keeping him from being a guest is out of the question. In fact… he already has reservations for next week." He looked the girl straight in the eye. "If you don't want to stay, I know Io and the others will understand completely."

Mizuki licked her lips, finding they had gone strangely dry. There was a strange pressure in her chest that wasn't there before. "Why did Io-san have to sell part of the inn?"

Umeda smirked, looking more like his old self. "She got carried away with the renovations, got herself into debt. She never did learn to spend her money right." He shook his head. "So, there was no climbing out of the hole she had dug herself in alone. So when Ryo Makita offered to help her out after vacationing here last summer, she either had to take him up on his offer – he's a fairly affluent businessman back in Tokyo, apparently—or let the inn go altogether."

Mizuki slowly nodded in understanding. Her mind was whirling a mile a minute, and she was having trouble catching her breath. Despite this, she set her jaw determinedly.

"Well, I know for the fact that I won't leave Io-san in need! From the sounds of it, she needs all the help she can get." She flashed a smile she wasn't entirely feeling. "And even if Makita-san got it into his head to try anything, I'll have you, Io-san, and all of the others here to back me up."

Her own words were having a rejuvenating effect on her morale. Umeda couldn't help but grin at her spunk.

"Thanks for the heads-up Umeda-sensei! Gotta go, have to get start unpacking." Mizuki quickly embraced the doctor before vanishing back out the door.

"That girl is such a spaz."

It wasn't until she reached the lobby that Mizuki realized how winded she was. Goodness, was she that out of shape? She hadn't kept up with her exercises very diligently at all while in America, but she couldn't imagine that the short jog from one wing to the next should have tired her out at all.

Maybe I'm PMSing, she thought, wandering towards the general area of the employee quarters. That made sense. Her chest ached and, despite the carefully regulated climate control keeping things comfortable, she felt excruciatingly warm. I just need to dunk my head in the sink.

The worries she still harbored about Makita returning (she wasn't quite as over it as she had made it seem to Umeda-sensei) seemed to be melding together into a haze obscuring her thoughts. Putting one foot in front of the other was getting harder and harder. Her body felt like it was weighed down by some invisible force. Am I sick? Do I have a fever? Gosh, this vest is getting tight...

Why did it feel like she was trying to breathe in pea soup rather than air?

With a stroke of luck, Mizuki was able to recognize her room number as she passed it and managed to wrench the door open, not bothering to close it behind her. Bracing herself against the wall, she fought to inhale and exhale normally.

Not noticing the complete lack of privacy, she began to remove her shirt.

Sano and Nakatsu had just attended Io's debriefing, but she let them go earlier than the others because she was confident that they still remembered their way around from last year.

"I need to break the new meat in," she had told the two young men with a coy wink, ushering them out into the hallway. "Baptism by fire!"

Nakatsu hefted his cumbersome futon over his shoulder to try and get a more comfortable grip. "Feels good to be back, eh, Sano-kun?"

"Yeah."

"It was nice of Io-san to give us the night to ourselves, too. Things are going to get crazy when people start moving in tomorrow."

"Yeah."

"Are you listening to me?"

"Yeah."

"Kayashima-tan and I are running away to the States and eloping."

"Yeah."

Nakatsu snorted in annoyance, stopping outside their room. Sano just kept walking, lost in his daydreaming. It wasn't until the blonde grabbed him by the shoulder that he snapped out of his reverie.

"Wha? Were you saying something?" Izumi blinked a few times. He had been so busy worrying about Mizuki and what Umeda had needed to tell her that he hadn't even been paying attention to Io's instructions, nor his best friend's ramblings.

Nakatsu didn't get a chance to retort as the sight that greeted them as they stepped into their room left them speechless.

She stood in the center of the room, clad in only her pants and polka-dot bra (which, admittedly, didn't fit very well anymore either). With a shriek, Mizuki desperately tried to cover herself with her discarded shirt and vest, pleading with them all the while, "No, wait, this isn't what you think it is…! Oh no, oh no oh no… don't look!"

"M-Mizuki-kun?" Nakatsu managed to spit out, dropping his futon. His eyes trailed from her crimson red face to her cleavage line, mouth popping open as he did so. "M-M-M…Mizuki-CHAN!"

Sano, trying his best to be tactful, had turned his back. He hoped that Mizuki hadn't seen the expression on his face. Her gender was no secret to him, and hadn't been for quite some time. But now that things were out in the open, he wasn't sure how to react.

There was no way to pretend he hadn't seen her, that much was certain.

Everything is definitely out in the open now, all right, the little voice in the back of his head teased him. She's become quite the shapely woman, hasn't she?

Before he even had time to banish those taunting thoughts from his mind, he heard a sniffle. Mizuki had started to cry.

"I'm sorry," she choked out, covering her face with those small, delicate hands Sano loved so much. While he had had his back turned, she had covered herself with a faded comforter. She looked small, impossibly small, wrapped up in that oversized blanket, as fat tears cascaded down her cheeks.

She didn't even bother with excuses.

No one in the room said anything for what seemed like hours. Nakatsu was clenching and unclenching his fists, a muscle in his jaw twitching. A parade of emotions ran over his face, fighting for dominance. Without a word to either of his companions, he turned on his heel and left quietly.

Upon his silent departure, Mizuki ceased her sobbing. The tears still ran, though, as she glanced up at Sano.

"Please don't hate me" was all she said.

Author's Note: Hey everyone, sorry this chapter took awhile to finish. I had to rewrite the end about five times, and even now, I'm not horribly satisfied, but… meh. I apologize if it seemed a bit rushed!

Please review to let me know what you think of the newest installment! And to all of you who have already reviewed… well, what can I say? You guys are fantastic. : )