Today was the day of the Recording Test, and Setsuna was worried. Not only did she not feel confident, but her partner, Ren, was skipping class again. It's been two weeks since the pairs were assigned, and although she saw him at lunch and handed him the second copy of CD arrangement and his sheet music, he neglects all of the classes, making it hard for her to talk to him.

"He's not here again?" Shinnosuke sighed, approaching the girl. "Jinguji's been skipping a lot lately, huh?"

"Not to mention that he doesn't do any homework," Setsuna added, looking down to the CD of the song's instrumental version and the sheet music of the full arrangement.

The entire class was in a holding room, waiting for their teacher to come through the door that led to the recording room. Everyone was there, not including Ren. Setsuna felt a bit lonely since she didn't have a partner. Syo saw her nervousness from the other side of the room.

But then again, when is she not nervous?

Ever since he returned her things, he has been looking for similarities between Natsuki, Shinnosuke, and others she talked to. Maybe that would give him an answer to why she never talks to him like she does to them. Unfortunately, he had no idea what that similarities were.

Even though he knew what was going to happen, Syo decided to try to talk to her again. As he got closer and closer to her, she began to walk away. He looked towards the door to the recording room and saw Ryuya standing there. Shinnosuke saw Syo approaching and turned around.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Can I ask a question, Shin?" Syo asked.

"Sure."

"Why doesn't Nishima talk to me?"

"That's a good question." His brows furrowed in confusion. "I'm not so sure, but I am sure that she must feel terrible."

" . . . Why?"

"She's the only person who doesn't have an idol to sing her song. What's with Jinguji anyway? Doesn't he know how hard she was working? Syo, do you know what's going on with him?"

Syo shook his head. He saw Setsuna walk back to Shinnosuke's side without her CD and music score.

"Nishima," Shinnosuke said. "Where're your things?"

"Since Jinguji-kun isn't here, I'm leaving them with Hyuga-sensei and play the piano arrangement late –" She completely froze when she saw Syo and hid behind Shinnosuke.

"What happened, Nishima?" Syo asked, carefully choosing his words.

She shook her head and nervously looked over Shinnosuke's shoulder, but avoided eye contact with Syo. Syo saw Shinnosuke whisper something to Setsuna, but he couldn't hear him over all of the other students around them.

"Shin told me you worked hard on your song," he said.

Setsuna nodded and gripped the hem of her skirt.

"I can't wait to hear it."

When she heard him say that she immediately looked up. "W-well, a-actually . . ." She stopped herself when she realized she was looking directly at him. Her face flared red and she hid herself again behind Shinnosuke.

"Hm?"

"N . . . n-no . . ."

Syo couldn't see her, but he knew all she wanted was to get out of there.

"Everyone, pay attention!" Ryuya called, silencing all the students. "I have the order taped on those two walls, so make sure to check it out. Composers, be sure that you have your arrangement CD and sheet music in order. Also, whoever is after Jinguji, he's not here so we'll skip over him. We'll start as soon as the first pair comes up."

"Nishima, do you wanna go look?" Shinnosuke asked, turning around to see Setsuna.

She shook her head. "I . . . I-I'll just . . ."

"Alright, then, I'll be right back." He left her, pushing Syo along with him.

"W-wait, I still wanna talk to Nishima!" Syo complained when they joined the crowd near one of the posters.

"Look, I think Nishima's a little frustrated because she doesn't have a partner. I just want her to have a bit of time to relax by herself."

Syo looked over his shoulder and saw a troubled look on Setsuna's face as she leaned against an empty wall. He couldn't help but feel sympathy for her when she looked so down. He saw Ryuya approach her and talk to her for a moment. Setsuna nodded and left the holding room.

Syo pulled his focus away from the scene and put it all in the test. He was the sixth person to go. He looked at the sheet music in his hands, even though he had their song, Cosmic Runner, by memory.


Natsuki finally finished his test and he was relieved of the stress of being the first to go. He walked out of the holding room to stretch his legs. As exciting as it was to go inside a recording room, he just couldn't stand still. As he walked down the hall, he saw Setsuna at the end, walking into the furthest room.

Natsuki smiled and headed to her direction. The two have grown quite close, and he really did like the talks they have often. He peeked into the room secretly. It turned out to be a little practice room. Setsuna was sitting on the piano bench with some piano sheet music spread out on the piano.

"Eh?" She turned around and instantly smiled at the sight of him. "Good morning, Natsuki-kun."

"Morning, Secchan!" He entered the room, closing the door behind him. "Did you finish your Recording Test already?"

She shook her head. "My partner isn't here, so I'm playing the piano arrangement for the class after lunch."

"So you're here to practice?" He saw her nod as she scooted over for him to sit down, which he did. "Who's your partner?"

"Do you know Jinguji-kun?"

"Oh, Ren-kun? Yes, I know him. So this is for him? Can you play it, Secchan?"

"H-huh?"

She blushed at the request, but smiled shyly before nodding. Setsuna positioned her fingers and began to play (Song: Sekai no Hate Made Believe Heart played by Kokoko6891 on YouTube) Natsuki found himself tapping his foot to the beat of the song. The melody was catchy and he wanted to sing along happily. Near the end, Setsuna stopped abruptly as the door opened before she could finish.

"Nishima, Hyuga-sensei wants – huh? Natsuki?"

The two turned around and saw Syo with a shocked look. Setsuna paled when she realized who he was and worried if he heard her play. She hastily turned around to the smiled and got up from the piano bench.

"Syo-chan, have you heard Secchan's song?"

He furrowed his brows. This was the first time he heard Setsuna's nickname that she earned last week. "Nishima's? No, I haven't."

"It's amazing! It's a shame Ren-kun isn't here."

Syo completely ignored his statement and looked at Setsuna. "Nishima, can I hear it?" he asked, trying to keep his voice gentle.

She was shaking and bit her bottom lip before she quickly stuttered, "K-K-ku-kurusu-kun, w-w-what did Hyuga-sensei need?"

"Oh, he says that the tests are almost done, so you should come back."

She gathered her things hastily. Setsuna smiled at Natsuki one more time. "Thank you, Natsuki-kun." She walked past Syo with her eyes towards the floor.

When she was out of sight, Syo sighed. "See? She doesn't look at me! Ever!"

Natsuki accompanied Syo as they walked back to the S-Class's designated holding room. "This is really strange."

"Ever since you met her, you've been talking to her nearly every time you see her."

Natsuki saw the look of confusion and a bit of jealousy on his face as he thought more about the situation. Syo has tried since day 1 to talk to Setsuna, but it always ended the same way.

". . . Maybe she hates me . . .," he mumbled to himself.

Immediately, Natsuki shook his head. "She couldn't hate you, Syo-chan! From what I see, she doesn't have the heart to hate anyone." The two were at the door of the holding room.

"Is that so?" Syo chuckled. "Thanks, Natsuki." He gave him a wave and went through the door, preparing himself for Ryuya's next order.

So . . . I really don't have much to say right now. So I'll give you a fact about me! At first I really hated Ren, but later I liked him because I really like Dear . . . Burning My Lady and Sekai no Hate Made Believe Heart . . . and because he's voiced by Junichi Suwabe. I guess it's 'cause I really never liked the characters that are flirts like Ren. I still kinda hate that part of Ren . . . but I like him. He's cool.