The two weeks that led up to the festival went by too quickly for my liking.

With all the soccer, volleyball, skating, violin, and Zuka Club practices coupled with the normal school workload, it's amazing I'm still standing. But my legs are feeling more than slightly wobbly, and it has absolutely nothing to do with anything I just mentioned. I can't help but feel slightly nauseated as I look up at the giant pink building. It hasn't changed a bit, and I wonder if the same could be said for the people inside it. Not that I really knew many of them on a personal level.

"Ew..." Reiko scoffs. "It's pink."

"Utterly disgusting," Ryuu agrees with a nod of her head.

"I still can't believe you went to school here," Asuka says in wonder as she stares up at the large pink and blue clock tower.

Despite the sickening feeling I have washing over me; I feel a small smile creeping over my face. My friends constant complaining is actually calming in a way. Just knowing that they seem to hate the place as much as I do is enough to make me feel a little bit better.

"Oh it gets worse," I assure them. "Just wait until you see the female uniform for the high school."

They share identical looks of curiosity and horror, or in Ryuu's case, indifference. I take a deep breath and step inside the gates. The first step is always the hardest, but by the third step, my legs are starting to solidify from their jelly-like state. I'm almost to the center of the courtyard before I hear three sets of footsteps behind me.

"So, how is this working again?" Asuka asks as we take in the flood of students that are crowding the booths set up under the shade of the main building.

"We sign up for our respective activities and meet up with Benio-senpai in Music Room 3," I recite. "Chizuru-senpai said it was urgent-"

Reiko snorts at the thought of what could be considered an urgent situation, and we find ourselves laughing along with her. Again though, only slightly smiling in the case of Ryuu.

We had only made it up to the fountain before we were distracted from signing up for our events.

"Oh! Yuuna-chan! Ryuu-chan!"

I look over to see the president of the Lobelia figure skating club running towards us. She comes to a stop in front of us, wheezing slightly and tucking a strand of her ginger hair behind her ear. She's already in her costume, even though the event doesn't start for another few hours. Apparently they froze one of the school swimming pools for us to use as a rink.

"I've been looking all over for you!" she pants as she smooths the short skirts of her costume. "Tanaka-san and Nakamura-san won't be skating today."

"What?" Ryuu and I ask in unison.

"Why not?" Ryuu continues tonelessly, but her eyes are slightly inquisitive.

"I'm afraid Tanaka-san caught the flu and Nakamura-san has suffered a serious leg injury," the president explains.

"So does that mean Ryuu and Yuuna can't skate in the show?" Asuka asks. "They've been working their asses off these last two weeks!"

"Oh, of course not," the president scoffs with a wave of her hand. "I just came to inform you about your understudies."

"And they are?" Ryuu drawls.

"RYUU NEE-CHAN!"

Ryuu goes pale for a moment before quickly ducking and pulling Reiko and I down with her. A black and blue blur hurtles over our heads, positioned to have tackled Ryuu off of her feet. There's a loud crash as it collides with a lone booth behind us and lands in a heap of flyers, steamers, and poster board.

"Ouch," Asuka winces, but a smile spreads across her face anyways.

"Trust me, he's fine," Ryuu mutters as she pinches the bridge of her nose in irritation.

And as if on cue a boy that looks like a mirror image of Ryuu bounces to his feet. He quickly dusts off his blue uniform jacket and adjusts his red and black plaid tie before a huge pout graces his lips.

"You're so mean Nee-chan," he whimpers as he pulls himself out of the wreckage he caused, not even bothering to help clean it up.

"The circumstances have not changed in the past hours," Ryuu says icily.

"But all I wanted was a hug," he whines as he stalks over, holding his arms out to her.

"Just shut up," Ryuu snaps, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. "You sound like a whiny little girl."

He lowers his gaze as she slaps his arms away, and I could imagine if he had puppy ears they'd be drooping. Poor kid. But he really should know by now Ryuu doesn't have those kinds of feelings for him. Or any boys in particular anyways.

"Hiro!"

I mentally curse as another boy in the same uniform as Hiro comes running up to us. He brushes his sandy blonde bangs out of his brown eyes and straightens his tie as he walks up, a nervous smile on his lips.

"Oh good you're all here now," the president huffs in annoyance as she points to the two boys. "These are your stand ins."

My jaw goes slack and I let out a low groan.

Akatsuki Hiro and Kimura Shou. Head of the Zuka Fan Club, male division, centered at Orokana Academy for Boys, our sister academy.

Both are obsessive, but on different levels. Hiro stalks his sister and constantly grovels at her feet, while Shou is...somewhat sweeter but makes you wonder how he knows all your likes and dislikes when you've never bothered to tell him any of them.

All in all they are creepy in their own unique ways...but that's not the point right now.

"Do you two even know how to skate?" I ask, my voice wobbling slightly.

"Of course," Shou says with a sweet smile. "We taught ourselves so we could skate with you just in case Tanaka-senpai and Nakamura-senpai ever got injured and needed an understudy."

I force myself to smile as I see a devious glint in Hiro's eye. Did they cause our partners to...? I swallow the lump in my throat and take a slight step behind Asuka. But my shield is only temporary. For all of Asuka's kickboxing training, she didn't even seem to sense this coming.

"ASUKA-SENPAI!"

All the color drains from Asuka's face as she's tackled by another blur of blue, mauve, and white. It pins her to the ground and proceeds to crush her with something that somewhat resembles a hug, but looks more like a python's death grip. I don't envy her one bit.

"How the hell did you sneak up on me?" Asuka gasps, her cinnamon brown eyes wide with panic.

"Asuka-senpai! Look!" the girl gushes as she finally loosens her grip and looks up at Asuka with an adoring but obsessive gaze. "I dyed my hair blue because I heard your favorite color is blue! Does it look good on me? Huh? Huh?"

"Um, isn't that against the dress code?" Asuka gasps as she tries to pry the smaller girl off of her.

"If it's for Asuka-sempai then the rules don't matter to me!" the girl squeals as she tightens her grip on Asuka and buries her face in Asuka's chest.

Shou walks over and attempts to pry the girl off as Asuka's face starts turning a weird bluish purple color. But the girl is surprisingly stronger than she looks and eventually I have to swallow my pride and go help him. He smiles at me in thanks, but he should know I'm not doing this for him, I'm doing it for Asuka. But he still just keeps smiling, so I focus on trying to unlock the girl's legs from Asuka's waist.

"Mikuru, you're suffocating her," Shou huffs as he tries to unlatch her arms from around Asuka's neck.

"Don't be ridiculous Nii-chan, she loves me!" the girl pouts.

"I'm sure she loves breathing more," he mutters as we finally manage to loosen her grip. "Besides, if you don't let her go she won't ever be around to love you back."

Mikuru reluctantly lets go and allows Shou to lead her away from Asuka, who is gasping like a fish out of water. I attempt to help her get up, but she seems content to lie spread-eagle on the ground in the middle of the quad.

"Well as fun as watching Asuka gasp for breath is, I'm gonna go sign up for my events now," Reiko sighs as she tosses a lock of hair over her shoulder. "Laters."

"Just remember to be on time," I remind her as I prod Asuka's side with the tip of my toe.

"No promises," she says as she waves over her shoulder.

She's only three steps away before two girls running towards us, and both wearing maid cosplay spot her and begin to make a beeline for her through the crowd. Reiko stops dead in her tracks and backtracks towards us to hide behind the still recovering Asuka. But one look at her source of sudden terror has the color draining from Asuka's face.

"That's it, I'm getting outta here," she whispers before she makes a break for the safety of the crowds.

"WAIT! MY LOVE!" Mikuru yells as she takes off after her.

She bulldozes he way through the crowd of surrounding students, desperate not to lose Asuka's trail. This causes a temporary case of chaos as stands are knocked over and brightly colored flyers go, well...flying.

Poor Asuka...I hope she gets away.

"What is wrong with the girls in that school?"

I look up to see a tall boy with vibrant red hair walk up next to Reiko. He's wearing the Orokana Academy uniform with the tie loosened and the top buttons on his shirt undone for a more relaxed look.

"I wouldn't know where to begin," I mutter. "So let's just go with everything."

He laughs for a moment before he looks down at the both of us before doing a double take at Reiko.

"My, my," he says with a lazy smile. "What a lovely specimen we have here."

I can practically feel the annoyance pang through Reiko as she glares up at him.

"What am I, an insect?" she spits.

"Oh heavens no," the boy says, suddenly caressing her face with his hands. "More like a lovely flower in full bloom."

"Get your hands of my face."

He flinches slightly before immediately dropping his hands.

"Ah...forgive me," he says as he laughs nervously and tries to pass that slip up by. "My name is-"

"TAKUTO!"

The red headed boy looks away to see two people break away from the crowd. The boy is tall with shaggy brown hair and blue eyes, while the girl is shorter, with light brown hair and dark brown eyes.

Both are wearing fancy kimonos that look like they belong to the tea ceremony clubs. It's actually kind of amusing watching them try to run over.

"You're a fan of Reiko-sama too?" the boy asks as he comes to a stop in front of us.

"This is the girl you were talking about Eji?" Takuto asks.

"Yes!" the girl chimes in. "That's Reiko-sama...the most amazing maiden to ever walk the halls of Saint Lobelia Academy!"

"Well, you certainly left out a great deal when you told me about her," Takuto says, oblivious to Reiko's growing anger. "You never told me her eyes sparkled like the purest aquamarine."

Reiko continues to fume as the two girls in the maid costumes finally break through the last of the crowd.

"Oh my gosh! You're in love with Reiko-sama aren't you!" the hyperactive one wearing the wavy pink wig gushes.

"Would you like to join the official Reiko-sama fanclub?" the other one asks in a monotone voice as she brushes the bangs of her pastel blue wig out of her eyes.

"Are you serious?!" Reiko groans. "I thought they had finally disbanded!"

"Of course I would!" Takuto says as his face lights up, completely ignoring Reiko yet again.

"Can we join too?" the boy, Eji, asks eagerly.

"Of course!" the pink haired girl squeals. "Newcomers are always welcome."

"Murder me Yuuna," Reiko whines as the girl in the blue wig starts distributing fan club pins.

"If I were you," I mutter. "I'd take this chance to make my escape."

She nods stiffly before turning on her heel and sprinting away, but somehow manages to cause considerably less damage then Asuka and Mikuru did. But it leaves me alone with only Ryuu to protect me.

"We should get going too," she says quietly.

I nod and make the move to leave before a hesitant hand touches my shoulder. I groan internally, but I turn to see Shou standing there blushing, and looking at me with hopeful eyes. It kills me.

"Um, Yuuna-chan?" he asks. "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go get some tea with me. The culinary clubs are just around the corner."

"Sorry," I reply without really meaning it. "But I have to go sign up for my events now. And then I have to meet Benio-senpai before the soccer match starts."

His face falls a little before he forces himself to smile again.

"Alright," he says as he shoves his slightly shaking hands into his blazer pockets. "I'll wait for you there just in case though. But I'll be there in time for your soccer match if it turns out you can't make it."

"Sure, ok."

I don't even try to smile and push away the tiny prickles of guilt I have about lying to him. I already know I won't show up even if I do have free time.

"See you around," I say before I drag Ryuu away from a moping Hiro.

xx

"Well this is it," Asuka sighs as she runs a hand through her disheveled hair.

"And again everything is pink," Ryuu mumbles in disapproval.

"Let's just get this over with," I sigh as I reach for the golden handle.

"This better be good," Reiko spits as she plays with the hem of her uniform skirt.

"Knowing Benio-senpai, there's a good chance this urgent matter is something completely stupid," Asuka growls.

"Well," I say quietly. "There's only one way to find out."

And with that I throw open the doors. There is this moment of silence, like something was supposed to happen, but it's broken in a second. Our entrance is muffled by the outbreak of loud hysterical laughter.

"Oh man! What a stupid name! The Zuka Club? My stomach hurts!" some boy gasps between the laughs that rack his body.

"The Zuka Club!" another voice joins him. "That's priceless! And they had those get-ups on under their uniforms!"

We look over a small group of boys wearing medieval armor to see Benio, Chizuru and Hinako posed on the other side of the room in full Zuka Club glory.

"Oh for the love of god," Asuka whines as she slaps her forehead.

"Ah there you are maidens," Benio-senpai says as she finally notices our presence. "Your timing is impeccable."

The boys all turn over their shoulder and my blood freezes solid in my veins.

Ginger.

Two of them.

Against all the odds, I managed to find them. And they stare back at me, with those liquid gold eyes that I hate so much.

The Hitachiin Twins.