"I'm... free." He whispered.
"The heck..." Jackie gasped, standing up. Jackie stared at Cecil in disbelief. She had seen him in a human like form before, but she thought it was some kind of persona. Cecil looked up at her, quickly grabbing her hands and kissing them.
"My princess, you have saved my from my curse!" Cecil thanked, kissing each of her knuckles.
"I did?" Jackie questioned, blinking. "So is that what that weird looking music was?" Jackie asked, looking down at her black box. She took a good look at her black box, a little weary of what she had just put in there. It wasn't really safe anywhere, but she didn't really know what to do with it.
"My princess, I thank you for what you've done for me. Only by you, with the power of the Muse by your side, I could be set free." Cecil looked up at her, a glimmer in his eyes. Jackie blushed a little and pulled her hand away.
"I-it's fine, I would have done it for anyone..." Jackie said, waving her hands around. "Oh! But I would like to thank you for your help before." Jackie said, giving him a small bow. "Because of you I was able to hold onto my friends and my love for music."
"I will do anything in a heartbeat for you." Cecil said, reaching out to push a strand of hair behind her ear, which had fallen free from her hair tie. His hand moved to her cheek pulling her head up slightly. Jackie blinked a few times, suddenly feeling very nervous. She wasn't exactly oblivious to advances, but that didn't mean she knew how to deal with them. Jackie tried to back up when his face moved closer to hers, but she found herself trapped, part of the small building blocking her in. "My Princess, I will always love you." Cecil said, putting his arm around her back and pulling her close. Her hands flew to his shoulders, trying to stabilize herself. The next thing she knew, his lips were on her own.
"Jackie-chan!? Where are you?!" Otoya's voice rung out through the woods. Cecil pulled away, frowning.
"My Princess," Cecil said, turning to her. "I must go for now, for I have something to do. But I will be back, I promise. And I will be with you from then on." Cecil put his hand over her eyes, causing her to close her eyes, and kissed her cheek. When he pulled away, she opened her eyes and he was gone. She looked around for him, but he had vanished.
"Jackie-san, where are you!?" Jackie turned her head to the path she had come down. She began to walk towards it. She picked up the pace every time Otoya called her name, picking up the desperation beginning to edge in it. When she found him, she ran to him. He turned around and let out a relieved sigh, jogging over to her. "Where you were, we were so worried-" He stopped when she wrapped her arms around him. He stuttered a little, tensing. "W-what's wrong?" Otoya squeaked, hesendently putting his arms around her.
"...Nothing. Can we eat now?" Jackie asked, looking up at him. He frowned, but nodded, taking her hand and helping her along, leaving the subject alone.
~~Time Skip~~
Jackie walked through the building, stopping in front of the president's office. She looked down at the letter in her hand, rereading it. It was from the president, asking for her to meet him in his office at 11. She looked down at her watch, seeing that she was a few minutes early. Still, she knocked, quickly receiving a 'come in' from the other side of the door. She stepped into the room, looking around. She was surprised to see Ringo inside with Shining, who were both working on some odd project with cards, painting Japanese characters on them.
"Ah, Miss Jacqueline, so glad you could come!" Shining yelled, jumping off of his desk he was standing on. He jumped down in front of her, a big smile on his face. "So sorry to call you out of the blue, but I would like a new song for STARISH!"
"That's great! I can't wait to hear it~" Ringo chirped, a big smile blooming on his face. Jackie smiled and nodded.
"I'll start trying to put it together as soon as I can!" Jackie smiled, jumping in excitement She couldn't wait to start collecting music again. She was nearly exhausted of her music strips since the night she left Japan. She hurried out of Shining's office, hearing Shining yelling out a few 'bie's. She closed her eyes, ready to activate her music sight. However, it felt different than usual. There was a rush of energy to her eyes before the sight came to her. When she looked around, she could see music all around her, looking the same as always. She shrugged, moving through the hallways. She looked around for music, trying to find any lose flying songs. However, there were still very few songs around her from the boys. She found a few, picking them out of the air.
She found herself studying them much more than she had in the past. The more she looked, the more she found in the music. Hidden parts and different purity of feelings. She figured that she should look more into this later on. She figured that if she looked even closer at the music, she could find a way to make music better, based on the strips she uses.
"That could be a cool experiment." She whispered to herself. She looked around, finding the hallway basically devoid of music. So she turned her attention to the outside world. She looked around through the window, spotting some music outside. But when she went to open the window, she frowned. As fun as it was to have little scavenger hunts for music, it did become slightly dull from time to time. She shook her head, calling the wind to her. She stepped on the strip of music and flew off, grabbing some music on her way down to the ground outside. She looked around. She hadn't gotten the chance to look around the outside area too much yet.
Jackie smiled, walking down the path around the building. She looked around, enjoying a lazy stroll. It hadn't occurred to her how stressed she felt from everything that had been happening to her lately. With the whole picking a partner thing, going from arguing her case of bringing together STARISH, getting the boys ready for their concert, and then the whole having to go home thing really put a strain on her emotions. Even after coming back to Japan, she had to readjust again to the Japanese time zone and then she spent of of yesterday hanging out with the boys. And throughout that entire time she was constantly using her powers, exhausting them in greater and greater quantities. She was wiped and only now did it really hit her.
It both pleased and worried her how much she used her powers. It was great that she could practice her powers more and it was definitely showing improvement in her composing skills. But at the same time she could remember the terrible feeling of losing control of her body as she floats into a dark abyss.
She shook her head, trying to get such thoughts out of her head. She didn't want to think about such things in the morning, especially because her eye color had darkened again, like it always did before she had her fainting spell.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a faint, gentle sound in the air. She closed her eyes briefly, listening to the sound of a voice in the wind. She opened her eyes again, looking around. She watched as music around her moved out of the way to allow long, strips of bright green music to flow around the air freely. She followed them, trying to find the source. She knew from the music shading that it was indeed Cecil's music, but he was nowhere to be found.
She wandered around to the front of the building, spotting the STARISH boys. Her friends seemed to have heard Cecil's singing as well, because they were all looking around for him. She was ready to call out for them when the music began to change pace and swirl around her oddly. She looked up, watching the music move to the song lyrics. She could feel Cecil's presents close to her own and she looked around for him. His voice was louder over here, so he had to be pretty close. But as his voice died down, the music strips began to fade and disappear, supposedly returning to the host. Jackie, however, caught a strip before it disappeared and kept it 'alive', allowing it to float around her as if it was her own music.
"I've been waiting for you, Jackie." The boys noticeably moved closer to Jackie, all looking rather tense. Jackie stared into the trees, her eye catching hold of a black figure in the distance, swinging through the trees towards her. She watched as Cecil jumped out of a tree and landed gracefully in front of her, the music of the wind seemingly helping to cushion his landing. Jackie smiled and rushed over to him.
"Cecil! You're back!" Jackie smiled. As weird as their last meeting was, she still felt relieved to see him again. She stopped in front of him, smiling up at the teal eyed man.
"Jackie, I have returned to you, my love." Cecil reached forward and took her hand, placing a delegate kiss on the back of her hand. She could hear the boys exploding behind her, hearing the rumbling of charging feet. "We may have only been apart for a few hours, but it felt like an eternity to me." Cecil cupped her chin and leaned closer to her. "My love, I've missed you so..." He closed his eyes and Jackie leaned away from him, her heart suddenly speeding up as she looked around for something to help her out of the situation.
Luckily, she didn't have to do anything, because it only took the boys a few seconds to intervene. Cecil yelped as he was suddenly pulled back by Otoya and Syo. Tokiya and Masato moved to stand in front of Jackie while Ren and Natsuki stood by the side, waiting to intervene if needed.
"Hey! What the heck are you doing!?" Syo yelled in fury.
"J-Jackie-chan, who is this guy?" Otoya asked, thoroughly confused. "Do you know him?"
"Oh, yeah. This is Cecil- he was a cat before, but I lifted the curse and freed him." Jackie said suddenly. The boys stopped suddenly, turning to the small brunette. Jackie blushed slightly, thinking about what had just come out of her mouth. "Er, there's more to what I just said." Before Jackie could explain the context of the situation, a bellowing laughter echoed through the area. The group of teens looked around, knowing exactly who was making such a racket.
Turning around, Jackie suddenly found herself face to face with the president, Shining Saotome. Masato and Tokiya turned around as well, jumping back. "When did you...?"
"It is introduction tiiiiiiiime!" Shining shouted, jumping into the air and landing next to Cecil. "His name is Aijima Cecil! He is the prince of Agnapolis- the land of music. A real life Prince!" Shining shouted, throwing his arms in the air.
"W-what?!" Syo shouted.
"But why is he here?" Natsuki asked, looking worriedly at Jackie.
"I don't know!" Shining shouted, causing the boys to sweatdrop. "But now that he is here, he has been recruited as part of the Master Course!" The sound of a helicopter approaching became very evident and it soon began to hover over the area, a rope dropped out of it. "Please play nicely together while I'm at my meeting." Shining said, grabbing the rope and letting the helicopter pull him into the air. "Bye-bye!" Shining laughed as he slowly disappeared into the distance. The group watched in a bizarre fascination as their boss flew away on a rope by a helicopter.
"Cecil's in the Master Course now?" Jackie asked, turning around to face the black haired prince. Cecil smiled at her, chuckling lightly.
"I told you, I will be with you for now on." Cecil said, gaining a few glairs from the other boys.
~Time Skip~
"Wah~ This is so exciting! Lets welcome Cecil-chan to his new home. I even made cookies~" Natsuki chirped, smiling at everyone. His smile fell when he looked around the room, finding just about everyone frowning. "Minna? What's wrong?" Natsuki asked, looking around at the group.
"Why the heck do we have to welcome him?" Syo murmured, slouching back in his seat and letting his cheek rest on his palm.
"Well Cecil-kun is gonna be part of the Master Course, isn't he?" Natsuki questioned, desperately looking around for anyone who felt the same way he did. "Shouldn't we at least try to be friends with him?" Natsuki asked, frowning deeply. He smiled and turned to Cecil, hoping to lighten the mood with some conversation. "We should introduce ourselves. I'm-"
"Natsuki Shinomiya." Cecil said, surprising the group around him. He turned to look at Natsuki in the eyes, smiling. "Your hobbies include cooking and you enjoy anything cute."
"And he enjoys spending time with people outside~" Jackie added in.
"How do you know that, Cecil-kun?" Natsuki asked.
"I am from Agnapolis, the land of music and next in line for the throne. The royal line is affected by one's connection to the Muse, our great goddess. Although I myself do not have the same abilities that one personally blessed by the Muse, I can hear the music of the world sometimes." Cecil explained, turning to Jackie.
"So you're like me, but... not as cool?" Cecil choked slightly, looking hurt.
"W-well I suppose if you want to put it that way..." Cecil frowned, looking down. His attitude turned around in a moment, back to smiling at Natsuki. "Your heart is warm and kind, like a sunny spot. And your smile heals the hearts of those around you."
"Wah~ This is so great! Thank you very much!" Natsuki giggled.
"And one day, the darkness you keep locked in your heart will disappear." Cecil finished
"Wow, how do you know so much about Natsuki?" Otoya asked, leaning over to see the foreign man.
"I know about you too, Otoya Ittoki." Cecil said, smiling at Otoya.
"Me?"
"You are Otoya Ittoki. You treasure others' smiles above all else."
"Their smiles?" Otoya asked, blushing a little.
"Your songs will continue to evolve through your feelings of love and strength."
"R-really?!" Otoya asked, suddenly looking excited.
"Yeah right, I bet he's making this up." Syo muttered.
"Well I don't really know how to do it, but there is such a thing as music fortunetelling, in which you can find a certain kind of music that can tell one's future." Jackie smiled, appearing behind Syo.
"Ah! Where did you- wait, really?" Syo asked, eyes wide and mouth gaped.
"Syo Kurusu, your body might be small, but you are very athletic." Cecil smiled, causing Syo to jump up, a tick mark appearing on his head.
"D-don't call me short!" Syo yelled, outraged.
"The contrast between your cute looks and masculine personality is your appeal." Cecil smiled, Syo seething.
"Syo-chan, isn't it great to be complemented?" Natsuki smiled, bending down to Syo as if he was a little kid.
"But your violent temperament causes you to have conflicts with people." Cecil chuckled, causing Syo to flinch back a little.
"Oh yeah~" Jackie smirked, giving Syo a knowing look.
"Hijirikawa Masato," Cecil said, turning to Masato. The handsome heir tensed slightly, looking Cecil in the eye. "You seem cool, calm, and collect, but you hide massive feelings on the verge of exploding within yourself." The group turned to Masato who crossed his arms and looked down, closing his eyes, as if he were thinking about something.
"Hijirikawa, what are you hiding?" Tokiya asked curiously, but Masato did not answer him.
"Ichinose Tokiya," Cecil said, Tokiya turning his head to the black haired prince. "Your songs are a reflection of your heart. You are already heading towards the next stage." Cecil finished. Next he turned to Ren. "Jinguji Ren-"
"Thanks, but no thanks." Ren chuckled, looking out the window.
"Jinguji," Masato said, catching the blond flirt's attention. "You might as well let him tell your fortune." Ren huffed and shrugged, looking slightly bored as Cecil continued.
"Soon the chains of your heart will disappear. Then, you will feel happy from the bottom of your heart." Cecil smiled.
"That's so cool!" Otoya smiled. "It's like you've known us for years!"
"Well I'm not buying it." Syo huffed, crossing his arms. "Even if he is the prince of music land- anaga- whatever. I still don't believe that anyone but Jackie-chan can do music stuff. Besides, how do we even know that what he says will be right?"
"I believe him." The boys turned to Jackie, who smiled at the boys. "Because Cecil gave me advice that helped me decide to make a group song for you guys~"
"Maji?!" Syo cried, turning to Cecil.
"So if it wasn't for Cecil, STARISH would never have been formed..." Tokiya released, turning to Cecil.
"Yeah." Jackie said, looking down, feeling guilty for some reason. "So please have some faith in him. I can feel his connection with Miss Muse, so I trust him." Jackie said, glancing at Cecil. As weird as he was, he did seem rather connected with the music of the world.
"So what do you plan on doing in the Master Course?" Otoya asked. "Do you want to be an idol?"
"I have no interest in becoming an idol." Cecil smiled, surprising the group. "I simply want to be with Jackie." He stood up and stood in front of Jackie, looking her deep in the eye. "I wish to combine my poetry with the music of this world- the music in a world that only you can see. The only reason I am here, is to be with you. After all, I am best suited to sing your songs. Jackie, my Muse's Prophet, I love you." Cecil confessed, causing Jackie to blush bright red while the boys watched in shock at the scene unfolding in front of them. Even Masato and Tokiya's expressions were rather extreme- eyes wide and mouths gaped. Cecil leaned down, seemingly moving to kiss Jackie, but the boys snapped out of their shock in time to jump up. They rushed over to them and the boys pulled Cecil back, blocking him from Jackie once more. Otoya, Masato, and Syo pulled on Cecil while Tokiya and Ren stood in front of Jackie. Natsuki stood on the side, watching with a tense body.
"Cut that out!" Syo yelled.
"You are all fools!" The group stopped when a new voice arose. The group looked around, searching for the mystery voice.
"Who's that?" Jackie asked.
"I don't know." Ren admitted, looking around.
"To speak so boldly of love in the Master Course... You are all fools!" Suddenly the room changed. The colors of the lights changed to a much bluer color and dimmed. Then a strong wind blew through the room with a frosty sting to it. The group huddled together, Cecil especially freezing.
When the wind died down, the group turned their attention to a large entrance way, supposedly another set of stared up to the next floor. A man stood on top of the staircase, a silhouette in the light, arms outstretched and a cane in his hand. A spotlight turned on and pointed at the man, lighting up his face for all to see. He had an odd shade of blond hair with a very light blue color in his eyes.
"I am the Count of the Silk Palace- from the country of Permafrost!" Suddenly he jumped up and off of the stairs. He practically flew through the air and landed on the ground with style. "I am the knight in surface of the queen! I am the idol of the ancient and honorable origin, Camus!" He said, posing dramatically, the lights going back to normal.
"First a prince, now a count?" Syo muttered. The man glared at Syo and his cane was stuck in Syo's face, causing the small blond to recoil.
"Hold your tongue, fool." Camus huffed before turning to Cecil. "You are Aijima? Be grateful. Starting today, I am assigned to you as your new mentor."
"That's right, Cecil has his own senior as well, doesn't he?" Otoya realized. Jackie stared at Camus, watching him carefully. Although her eyes might be blue at the moment, she had a basic idea of what his music would sound like- probably cold with a some kind of raw, powerful emotion, like maybe a feeling of superiority. Even if it was just a guess, she had a feeling she was spot on.
"I don't need a senior." Cecil said with surprising guile in his voice. "I have no interest in being an idol."
Jackie saw Camus's eye twitch and his grip tighten on his cane, clearly annoyed. "I do not understand why Saotome allowed you into the Master Course..." Camus sighed, looking at his cane. "But here, senior and junior relationships are absolute. So you WILL respect me and you WILL study show business." He turned to Cecil with a hardened glare. "Understood?"
"No." Cecil said pleasantly. Camus's nose flared. Camus took a moment to calm down and think, his eyes happening upon Jackie. She saw a change in his eyes when he saw her and he turned back to Cecil, gesturing slightly at Jackie as he talked.
"You seem to wish to sing the songs of this girl. Do you really believe you can sing a professional's songs when you haven't grasped the fundamentals of a idol?" Camus challenged, Cecil's bright smile disappearing, taking offence to that.
"Ummm, technically, anyone could sing to their own song." Jackie muttered, trying not to be too loud.
"An amateur like you can not compare to a professional!"
"That's not true!" Cecil cried. "I can sing better than anyone because the Muse smiles down on me! Even better than the members of STARISH!" Cecil smirked, his confidence evident.
"Better than us?" Otoya questioned, looking rather surprised by his declaration.
"That's quite the ego you got there." Ren glared, crossing his arms.
"Very well then," Camus smirked, looking at Cecil smugly. "Come outside." He commanded. "All of you." Jackie looked to Tokiya, who looking back at her. Camus began to walk away, the group still standing there unsurely.
"Come on." Jackie whispered, taking Tokiya's arm and erging him along. The group followed soon after, Camus leading them outside to the open field in the back. The group looked around in confusion. A number of white cards were scattered around on the grass, kanji written on everyone of them. "That's what they were doing." Jackie whispered, remembering Saotome and Ringo's activity earlier in the day.
"These are the President's new Idol training cards." Camus explained.
"W-why cards?" Otoya questioned.
"They're huge..." Syo said, holding one up.
"Put it back." Camus hissed, Syo dropping it under Camus's icy glare. "Aijima. You will compete against STARISH using these. You will have to win to prove what you said earlier."
"We're competing?" Masato asked, surprised.
"Hey, guys, something interesting is going on over there!" The group turned to see the other seniors standing together, Reiji shouting while trying to see better.
"Oi! We're right here, you don't have to shout." Ranmaru hissed, rubbing his ear.
"Rei-chan?" Otoya questioned.
"It's just Saotome's new training exercise." Ai said, crossing his arms.
"Hey, why are we playing with cards?" Syo questioned. "Shouldn't we compete with singing?"
"You're a fool." Camus said, A vain popping out of Syo's head. "Everything begins with the fundamentals. You are far too inexperienced to fight with songs!" Camus shouted, pointing at the boys with his cane.
"But isn't there a better way to test our fundamentals-" Tokiya asked, cut off by Jackie and Reiji.
"Don't worry about the small stuff!" Reiji smiled, elbowing Tokiya in the back.
"Yeah! Let's just all have some fun, Doki-doki-Toki-nee-chan!" Jackie giggled, catching him in a bear hug.
"What the- Don't call me that!" Tokiya yelled, his face bright red.
"What?" Jackie asked innocently, blatantly oblivious to the other STARISH boys' laughter.
"Dude, that just- haha!" Syo bellowed, clutching his stomach.
"That's quite the nickname." Ren joked, covering his mouth to keep the laughter.
"Cut it out!" Tokiya yelled, clearly losing his cool.
"Ne, Nee-chan? Can we play now?" Jackie asked, pulling on Tokiya's arm. Tokiya stopped yelling and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"...Fine. Let's get this over with." Tokiya sighed.
"I'm fine with it?" Cecil smiled.
"Really?" Otoya asked.
"Yes. I will win an prove my love for Jackie." Cecil smiled, making Jackie blush.
"That jerk!" Syo yelled, forgetting all about the previous naming incident.
"Ne, Syo-chan!" Natsuki said, rushing over to Syo with another card. "Aren't these cards so big and exciting?" Syo turned to Natsuki, clearly pissed.
"This isn't a game!" Syo yelled.
"Put the card down!" Camus yelled, making Natsuki jump and place it down. Camus sighed, shaking his head.
"Let's just do this already." Tokiya sighed.
"Fine. The rules are simple. The cards will be read aloud to you and you must find the answer among the series of cards and you will only have 15 minutes to win. You there-" Camus said, pointing at Jackie. "Read the cards."
"Um, but..." Camus handed her the cards.
"Begin." Jackie bit her lip and looked at the cards, relieved to find a translated version underneath. She knew enough to read Japanese as long as it was in letters.
"Okay, let's begin. Are you ready?" The boys all nodded, fire in their eyes. Jackie smirking and nodded back. She held up the card and in a clear voice, yelled: "'First class recklessness, idols give everything they can!' Did I say that right?" Jackie questioned. The boys an off, looking for the answer.
"There!" Syo yelled, running ahead and running to grab it. He rushed in just to have it picked up from in front of him. Syo stumbled to a stop, turning around to see what happened.
"It's 'mu', isn't it?" Cecil smiled, card in hand. The boys stared at him in shock.
"Y-you're kidding me!" Syo yelled.
"My hiragana is perfect!" Cecil gloated, smiling.
The game continued on for a while, the STARISH boys trying to grab the cards before Cecil. However, the Desert Prince seemed to always be one step ahead of them, grabbing all of the cards before the other boys could.
"I did it!" Cecil gloating, standing with pride over his three answers.
"Eh?! No way! Is he really gonna win by himself?!" Reiji cried, amazed.
"He's really good..." Natsuki frowned, gasping for air.
"He's way too fast." Otoya complained.
"Wait a minute." The boys turned to Masato, who walked over to Cecil, glaring down at his answers. "This is... wrong."
"What?" Cecil said, blinking in surprise. "Not 'I', but 'ko'! This isn't 'shi', but 'tsu'! This isn't 'chi', but, 'sa'..." Masato said, turning the cards.
"They do look similar." Ren said, shaking his head.
"You JERK!" Syo yelled, pointing at Cecil. "You got them all wrong!"
"EH?!" Cecil cried, tears in the corners of his eyes. "I can't believe it!" Cecil fell to his knees. "I was so confident in my Japanese!"
"Hey guys!" Everyone turned to Jackie, who stood by the building, waving back at the boys with a few cards in his hands. "I think I'm winning!"
"What?!" All the boys cried, rushing over to her. Surly enough, Jackie held all three winning cards.
"How did you- when did you-...What?!" Syo cried.
"It was easy, all three were really close by. You guys should have started from the very beginning instead of skipping the first few." Jackie giggled.
"W-wait... Hold on a minute... No." Tokiya hissed, looking right at her.
"W-woah there, calm down there, Toki." Reiji said, hoping to calm his junior down.
"No! No way! I can't believe that you would be able to find the right answers when we all thought that Cecil's answers were right!" Tokiya yelled, Jackie a little taken back.
"W-woah, what's with you?!" Reiji cried, not sure what is going on.
"Oh I'll tell you why I'm so angry! It's because she! Can't! Read! In Japanese Kanji!" A brief minute of silence swept over the group as this realization dawned on them.
"W-wait... What?" Ranmaru asked.
"Oh kami-sama... You're right!" Syo suddenly began to freak out. "She can't read, can she!"
"I nearly forgot about that..." Masato said, dumbstruck.
"W-wait, then how did she..." Reiji asked, turning to Jackie. The group all turned to look at Jackie. Jackie blinked and shrugged.
"Well, I mean, it's not like it's hard." Jackie blinked.
"What do you mean 'not hard'!?" Ranmaru yelled, a vein popping out of his head.
"I just mean that it's not hard. I mean, well, I just... saw it." Jackie said, pointing at her eyes. While the seniors looked confused, the juniors all choired an 'oh'. "2 Minutes left." Jackie smiled, looking down at her watch.
"R-right! I'll definitely get the next one!" Cecil said, suddenly gaining leaps and bounds in his confidence.
"Okay then, let's see how you all do!" Jackie giggled, holding the next card. "Luck and talent are both important!" Jackie called out, causing the boys the start running.
"Where is it?!" Syo cried looking around. "Come on! Come on! Where is 'U'?!" Syo looked around desperately for the card. But as Cecil ran by, Syo followed him with his eyes. Cecil stopped and smiled, suddenly changing direction. Syo rushed after him, seeing the card tied to a tree, hanging off a branch. In a matter of moments, Cecil had jumped into the tree and walked along the branch, smiling triumphantly over the card.
"This one is mine." Cecil smiled, kneeling down to untie it.
"Like I'm gonna let you get that!" Syo ran towards the tree, climbing up it expertly. He landed on the branch, causing it to shake and move. Cecil, having successfully united the card, suddenly lost his balance from the swaying. "W-whoops." Cecil waved his arms around, trying to keep his balance, looking down to see how far the fall would be. He suddenly made a choking noise as he looked at the small pond behind him.
"W-water?!" He cried, the card falling from his hand. He staggered around wildly, trying to to fall. But he was too far back to keep himself up and he tumbled into the water below. Concerned, Jackie rushed over, joined by the other boys. Cecil broke the surface, gasping for air and flailing his arms around. "H-help me! Help!" He cried. "I'm drowning! I can't swim!"
"Seriously? Dude, your feet should touch the bottom." Syo said, looking down at Cecil with tired eyes. Cecil's flailing lead him to stand up, suddenly finding that the water didn't even reach his knees. Jackie stifled a laugh while Reiji just let out a roar of a laugh.
"This is the best entertainment I've ever seen- and I'm an entertainer!" Reiji laughed. Cecil crawled out of the water, gasping for air.
"I can't believe no one even tried to save me." Cecil cried. A weird noise drew his attention to him right, seeing a fish flopping around on the soil. He sprang up in a moment, screaming- "Fish?!" Cecil turned around and ran for it. Running down the field and towards the woods. The group watched as he disappeared, his last words: "I'm done with this!"
"... I... don't even know." Tokiya sighed, shaking his head while Jackie bent down and picked up the fish, throwing it back into the water. Jackie stood up and looked around at the boys. She looked down at her feet, finding the card underneath. She bent down and picked it up, smiling.
"I win!" She cheered, holding it up. The boys smiled, a few rolling their eyes. She rushed over to Camus with big, sparkling eyes. "Does this mean I don't need a senior?"
"You didn't have a senior before." Camus glared.
"Cool!" Jackie smiled, making Camus roll his eyes and walk away. "Camus-san?" She questioned, confused as to why he was walking away.
"I'm exhausted." Syo complained, yawning. The group had decided to go back into the building, having lost interest in the competition and were walking through the lounge area.
"I wonder where Cecil-kun went." Natsuki said, frowning.
"Who cares?" Syo sighed, sticking his hands into his pockets. He walked over to one of the couches, getting ready to sit. "I just wanna sit down and relax-ah!" Syo suddenly jumped back. "What the crap!? Cecil?!" The others rushed over to see the young prince sleeping on the couch, muttering in his sleep.
"Idols... The fundamentals are easy... Camus supposed to be a count. Don't make me laugh." Jackie crying as she turned to Camus, who looked ready to murder Cecil.
"Wake up Aijima!" Camus rated, causing Cecil to open his eyes and sit up. He rubbed his eyes and turned to Camus, yawning.
"Camus? Why are you shouting?" Cecil asked. Camus suddenly grabbed Cecil by the collar and pulled him. "W-what are you-?!"
"I'm going to beat some sense into your empty, over dramatic head!" Camus yelled, dragging him along on the floor, pure fury in his eyes.
"Wh-what?! What did I do?! I can't breath! Camus!" Cecil yelled as he disappeared around the bend of the hallway.
"What a character." Ren chuckled.
"But he was kinda the winner of the game. He did get the card before you guys did." Jackie pointed out.
"I think Cecil-kun has the right character!" Natsuki giggled, smiling brightly.
"If you ask me he's nothing but a spoiled child. And he doesn't even want to be an idol, so it doesn't matter anyways." Syo pointed out. Jackie frowned, crossing her arms. She liked Cecil for the most part. However...
"He needs to grow up." Jackie huffed, surprising the other boys.
"Says the girl who yesterday was running around the hallways opening any and every door she could find." Tokiya pointed out.
Important!
Now, this is important to the story if you want to understand it better. If you want to figure it out on your own, then it's not too bad to ignore. In case you haven't noticed, Jackie is a little weird in a way. You'll notice later on that Jackie has, or will have, a bit of an identity crisis. She flips back and forth between the way she acts. She use to lighten up for a moment before flipping back into her more anti-social state. And she will continue to do this throughout this story too. It's just what she is. Now I don't mind if people read this to get the superficial story, but I am trying to advance my writing in this by using skills like foreshadowing and hidden meanings. If you want to try to analyze it, I'd love to hear what you all have come up with in the comments section~
Also, another thing. So someone pointed out to me that some of what I'm writing for Jackie's character is a bit cheesy with what she does. I admit, it the previous chapter there was a bit more 'smiles all around' than there should be. And I admit that it isn't the best way to have a story written. But I just wanted this reviewer to, first of all, know that I'm not offended or upset by their comment, but that I understand what they were saying and do agree with it. So I have decided to alter the story from this point on. The first bit of Prophet's Dream has more of a honeymoon phase sort of feel. But later on, and probably in this chapter, it will be a bit different.
Also- yes! I did it! I should probably mention that I only started writing this fanfiction and American Dream because I REALLY wanted to write that- "Hey guys, I think I'm winning!' Thing with Jackie! That is really the reason XD! Before I just had the idea, but I was like- nah! But then I thought of that and I was like, I really want others to read that! So I wrote it! Though, it was a bit more blown out of proportion in my head- I really dimmed it down for the fanfiction, since it was a little weird... But I'm glad I write these stories!
Also, just a few A/Ns:
OMG YEEES! I got to use Tokiya's special nickname! Doki-doki-Toki-nee-chan was a nickname I made up a long time ago when I first thought up the idea of Jackie. I was thinking about keeping it out of the story, but I just could help it! I had to do it!
You know the part where Syo said "Even if he is the prince of music land- anaga- whatever..." The anaga part was me legitimately forgetting where he was from and having no internet access XD!
Also, while writing the explanation of how Jackie knew Cecil I was just trying to write the most obscure yet right on point thing I could write. I tried to get a few of my friends to help me out with getting their reactions to the situation, but they just didn't cooperate right :(. Oh well...
Sorry this is so long, but thanks for reading~
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