And here I am again, with another chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

Edit 13/7/15: The SYOC is now closed! Thank you to everyone who submitted, I am really happy that you all took time to do that! Hopefully you'll all like the rest of the story.

The smell of sugar and eggs and milk brought back memories of a better time.

"So, Tada." Mama said, ceasing her dancing for a moment so that she could bend down to his height. "Now we need to decide what cookie cutter to use."

Tada giggled and held out his floury arms so that she could pick him up to look at the cookie cutters on the counter. He regarded them with all the intensity a four year old could muster.

"That one!" he squealed, pointing at one that was shaped like the sun. Then he looked at the butterfly shaped one, which he knew was Hiro's favourite. "Maybe that one, too? We can do two as well, right, Mama?"

"Yup!" She let Tada down and ruffled his hair. "Butterflies and suns it is."

Even now, Tada enjoyed making sweet things, and even though he was doing so alone, in Chika's kitchen, the feeling was still the same. It was particularly fun because he was making the biscuits and milk toffees for his friends at Kunugigaoka. Of course, there was also the advantage of not needing to ask anyone for permission to lick out the bowl afterwards.

As he put the biscuits into the oven and started on the milk toffees, the doorbell rang.

"Dammit, someone's early. HIRO!" he called, hoping that his sister had put in her hearing aids by now. "Could you answer the door for me?" the pitter-patter of footsteps on the stairs, and then that of the door opening shortly after confirmed that Hiro had heard him, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good Morning, Kitakawa-san." He heard Kinomoto say, "I hope I'm not too early. I bought some flowers from my garden."

"Oh…you didn't need to. I'll find something to put them in." Hiro replied. As an afterthought, she added. "Tada's in the kitchen. You're kind of early, so maybe you could sit in the living room?"

"Of course."

Hiro came into the kitchen then, with a small bunch of colourful flowers in her hand. The beads adorning her jumper made jingling sounds, catching some of the sunlight from the window. For a moment, it gave the surreal experience of the kitchen looking like a disco hall.

"Glass bottle." She told Tada by way of explanation, carefully putting the flowers down on an empty counter and searching for an empty bottle. Finding it, she picked up the flowers again and put them in, before walking over to the sink.

"What are you making?" she said, looking at the oven before turning to where Tada was making milk toffees.

"Milk toffees and chocolate biscuits." He explained. "Mum's recipes."

"Ahh," Hiro murmured nostalgically. "Mama's recipes. You two always baked when Papa took me to doctor's appointments. " A dreamy expression came over her face, and the siblings stood there for a moment, lost in remembering. Hiro was the first to snap out of it.

"I'll keep Kinomoto-kun company until either you finish or everyone else gets here. Then I'll be going upstairs, okay?" Hiro said as she filled the bottle partway with water.

"Okay." Tada said, but Hiro had already left, taking the flowers with her. He grinned at the empty space she left, and then went back to the toffees. With Ruko on the way, he'd need to make a lot. When Ueno had come up with the idea of a study group, Ruko had been the most dismissive of it, procrastinator that she was, but when Tada had said he'd make sweets and host their study group, she'd changed her mind pretty quickly.

Silly Ruko-Chan. He still grinned just thinking of how she'd reacted to the promise of sweets.

Haru was the next to arrive, and she had also come bringing something- a box of chocolates, rather than flowers, but still thoughtful all the same. He came out of the kitchen quickly to greet her, and then went back. He soon heard Haru and Hiro engage in a discussion about clothes- apparently Hiro had once made a dress a lot like the one Haru was currently wearing- a pink, girly creation with a collar. The talk baffled him, either way.
By the time he had finished, the topic of conversation had long since changed as Ruko had arrived, along with Ueno, and he went to sit in the living room with them.

"You seemed quite busy." Ueno said in lieu of a greeting, smiling from where he was sitting on the sofa. Tada nodded.

"Busy with the sweets, you know." He explained, chuckling at the way Ruko's eyes lit up.

"You seemed pretty passionate about it back there, Tada-kun. Is baking something you want to do with your life?" Haru asked.

Tada considered that. "No, not really. It's more a hobby. One I've had for a long time, but just a hobby."

"We have a cooking club, did you know that?" Kinomoto enquired. "You should join. Unless there was another club you were looking at?"

"Erm…" Tada thought of Riverside, and how he'd been part of their student-led Festival Committee. Kunugigaoka didn't have anything like that. Or rather, they did, but that, naturally, was a privilege open only to high-achieving third years. "Clubs aren't really for me…"

Well, it isn't a lie. It's probably simpler than the actual truth though.

"Kitakawa-kun joined the Dance Club, if the buzz is correct." Ueno interjected. "She's become something of a sensation in 2-C, isn't that right, Kita….oh, where'd she go?"

At Ueno's startled look, Tada chuckled again. It didn't surprise him in the least that Hiro had snuck off at some point without any of them noticing. No doubt she had gone upstairs to study already, given that she preferred independent revision. He explained this to Ueno.

"Oh, I see. Perhaps we should go upstairs ourselves. That's where we're studying, right, Tada-kun?"

"Wait, what about Aya-Chan?" Ruko asked, referring to their friend Ayako, who was also in Class 2C She was also a transfer student, albeit one who'd been in the school a good few months longer than Tada and Hiro had been. She'd started talking to Tada one day when they had both been trying to find their way to a particular chemistry lab. After that, the rest was history.

"Maybe she's lost…" Tada got up and started to make his way upstairs, and the others followed. Just as they all reached the top of the stairs, the doorbell rang.

"Speak of the devil!" Ueno laughed.

"And his horns appear." Tada finished off the quote from the novel he'd been reading. The others gave him an odd look. For a moment, he wished Akira had been there, because he knew she'd get the reference, or at least understand it was a reference. He gave a deep sigh.

"Wait a moment. No, actually, my room is second on the left, so go there without me. I won't be a moment."

"Okay!" Kinomoto said, cheerfully. "I'll keep these guys in check!"

"Who said we needed keeping in check?!" Ruko demanded through a mouthful of fizzy sweets she had taken from…somewhere. Tada laughed, and left his friends too it as he went downstairs and opened the door to a flustered Ayako . She was holding her phone (which had a map application open) in one hand, and a piece of paper in the other. Her long brown ponytail was coming undone. Tada couldn't help but think that this made her 'Keep Calm' T-Shirt seem particularly ironic.

"Ah, this is the right place!" she exclaimed, looking up at Tada. "Phew! Sorry I'm late!" she breathed a dramatic sigh of relief, and tucked her phone in her jeans pocket.

"No probs. Come in!" he let her in, and after she had taken off her sneakers, they went upstairs. Ayako had a lot of questions about the house, and his aunt, and he answered them all with a good grace, laughing as he did so. The others greeted her warmly when they got to his room, with Ruko teasing Ayako about her inability to get anywhere on time.

"Oooh, is that you as a little kid?" Ayako pointed to the small group of photos on his bedside table. Everyone fell silent as they looked at the pictures. All the pictures were candids, and all featured Tada and Hiro as young children. But the main focus of the three pictures he'd selected to stand there were the adults- one photo featured his mum, the second one his dad, and the final one included Karasuma.

"You look a lot like your mother…that is your mother, right?" Ueno broke the silence, pointing to the picture. Tada nodded as he stared at the picture, which had been taken in their old back garden. The photograph had captured the swinging motion of his mother's wavy ponytail, and her laughter as she hugged a squirmy one-year-old Tada, while little Hiro was trying to climb up their mother's leg. It was one of the photos that best captured what he remembered of her, even if it had been taken at an age he didn't remember much of.

Happier times.

"Ahh, kawaii!" Ayako cooed. Ruko also made appreciative noises.

"You do look like her…it's the eyes, and the curly hair, even if yours is black. Hiro-san looks like her too, but not so much. "Haru decided. Everyone agreed.

"So which one's your Dad?" Makoto asked. Tada pointed at the relevant picture, which had been taken at the beach when they were three. Ayako and Ruko seemed to burst from the cuteness. Weirdly enough, they didn't seem to wonder about the photograph with Karasuma, which was weird, because to Tada, that was the funniest one. It had been taken soon after the beach photograph, and it showed Karasuma in a chair reading the newspaper, with Tada and Hiro sitting either side of him, also looking as if they were reading newspapers. Except they had been three at the time, and therefore hadn't been able to read at the time.

"But where are they now, then?" Ayako asked when she was (reasonably) calm. "You said that this was your aunt's house, right? Are they overseas, like Ruko-Chan's parents? Working? Are they in the music industry too?"

Tada felt himself freeze. It was an innocent question, but somehow it got to him. He stared at Ayako, unable to blink for a moment. Then, he leaned back against the wall, and looked up at the ceiling, and his lampshade, focussing on the cracks and patterns he could see.

If only that was the case. If only they were overseas and working. If only, if only, if only. His head was fit to bursting with all the 'if onlys'.

"Tada-kun, are you okay?" Ueno asked, concerned. "You don't seem too good."

Tada nodded, slowly, still looking up at the ceiling. He could sense the concerned gazes of his new friends, but he still felt a little off. It should be a simple thing, correcting Ayako, but it wasn't.

"I think this is a painful topic for Tada-kun." Kinomoto whispered. There was something in his voice that made Tada think that perhaps the plant-loving boy understood something of what Tada was thinking. So, slowly, he met their gazes.

"It's fine, really. They passed away." He explained. Ayako slapped her hands to her mouth, speechless. Ruko leaned over and gave him a hug. Ueno nodded at him comfortingly. Haru and Kinomoto gave him an understanding look.

"Anyway." Ueno said suddenly and briskly, clapping his hands to get their attention. "Since there are just under three weeks left until the end-of-year exams, how about we start studying?"

"That's a good idea." Tada said gratefully. "So, How about we start with those physics problems we all had trouble with last week?"

After some debate, they all agreed on this, and started working. They studied for a good two hours until Ueno stated that his eyes were getting tired, at which point they stopped to chat for a while. When Ruko started to fall asleep from a lack of sugar, Tada went to get Hiro, and then to fetch the biscuits and toffees, which were fallen upon in glee. Then, it was back to studying, with a few intervals of chatting.

Ayako was the first to leave, having scheduled a trip to the cinema with her old friends. Makoto apologetically claimed to have housework that needed catching up on, and so he left soon after. The other three stayed long enough that they actually met Chika, and although it was clear that they were dying to ask her why Tada and Hiro were living with her, none of them did.

"Well, that was useful, I think." Ueno said when he prepared to leave with Ruko. "Thank you."

"Nah, it's no biggie." Tada said. Hiro echoed the sentiments.

"The sweets were amazing! And I even get to take some home! " Ruko jumped around in glee in the hallway. Tada wondered how she was managing to put on her tennis shoes, she was on that much of a sugar rush. That, and he hadn't even given her that many- for one thing, he'd given some to the others, too and in addition, he was saving some of the sweets for someone else.

"No, seriously." Tada startled and realised that Ueno was standing right next to him. Yup, this guy's a ninja.

"Ruko-kun's one of my good friends." He whispered. "We've lived on the same street since fourth grade, so I know full well how easy she finds it to avoid doing work until the last moment. I don't want her to end up in Class 3E next year, so this is a good thing you did."

Tada blinked, and stared at Ueno. There seemed to be genuine gratitude in his voice. It was…somehow touching. He opened his mouth to reply, when the click of a camera distracted him. Both Tada and Ueno turned to look at Ruko, who was grinning evilly while holding up her camera.

When on earth….? Tada didn't know what was more depressing- that she had managed to get herself ready in such a short time despite all her bouncing, or the fact that her yaoi radar was in what she'd call full working order.

"Really, can you blame me?" she grinned cheekily.

…

"Good Afternoon, Akira-Chan!" As he'd suspected, Akira was eating her lunch on the roof, reading a book while she did so. He noted that it was an Isabel Allende title, which made him smile. One of the things they'd formed their tentative bond over was their common interest in the author (he a long-time fan, and she a recent convert).

As usual, she simply looked up from her book and smiled, before taking a bite out of her sandwich and then returning to the page she was one.

"I have something for you." He said, sitting down next to her and digging through his school bag. Eventually, he found what he was looking for and pulled out the small packet containing a few of the biscuits and toffees he had made on Saturday.

"Here you go!" he proclaimed, holding it out to her. Akira put down her book and stared, looking wary.

"Do you remember how I invited some friends over for a study group on Saturday? I made some sweets because of that. I decided to save some for you, that's all."

"W-why would you need to do that?" Akira said, a faint blush staining her cheeks. Tada chuckled.

"We're friends, aren't we?" He didn't talk to Akira with the same regularity that he did with Ueno, Ruko and the others and she wasn't a friend in the same way that Tatsuya and Jin were his friends. But all the same, she was a friend. So he said those words with sincerity. After another stunned moment, Akira thanked him and took the packet, abandoning her sandwich. Opening it carefully, she took out a biscuit, and nibbled at it. A few moments later, her face lit up.

"Good?" Tada asked.

"Very." Akira answered simply, concentrating on the biscuit. When she'd finished it, she carefully resealed the packet for later, and went back to her sandwich. Tada took that as a cue to start on his own lunch, and the two sat in a sort of comfortable silence, eating their lunches while Tada looked up at the sky and Akira read her book.

The peace was broken by Aida suddenly bursting out onto the roof, out of breath and very, very annoyed.

"…Aida-Chan?" Tada asked. Akira continued reading, seemingly uninterested.

"You need to be with your sister." Aida said in between attempts to catch her breath. "Ichinose's just gotten into a really bad fight and she's upset."

Haru-Chan, a fight? Hiro? "Was Hiro involved?" Tada asked, leaping to his feet. Aida shook her head, all her tiny braids swinging.

" You know how friendly she is with Ichinose, despite all the rumours about her and all…." Which wasn't answering his question. But even so, Aida didn't need to say anymore, because Tada was already running down to find his sister, yelling apologies to Akira as he did so. It didn't take long to find out where the fight had taken place- for a large group of students had formed a ring outside the door of that particular classroom, with cat-calls and screaming ringing off the walls.

"Excuse me, sorry, let me through." He muttered, pushing through the students, all of whom seemed perversely engrossed in whatever was happening. By the time he actually managed to reach the middle of the circle, various injured students were attempting to leave the scene, aided by friends. Most of those children looked seriously injured, which shocked Tada.

But, more than that, he was astonished to see Haru being led away by a teacher, who looked very, very angry. Haru herself was as unruffled as Tada had ever seen her- her face was red and slightly bruised, her pretty eyes narrowed, and her hair ribbon coming undone. She also had an air of resignation about her, evident in the lines her mouth formed and the way her hands(also bruised, and a little bloody) hung by her side as she followed the teacher. A few students visibly recoiled as Haru walked past them, but she didn't react. It seemed clear that she was responsible for at least some of the injuries the various students had gained, but Tada didn't understand it.

The other notable thing about the scene was the girl sitting on another boy's back. Neither of them looked remorseful about anything, although there were angry tears threatening to leak from her dark brown eyes as she yelled at the boy in a voice that managed to be both husky and silvery at the same time. Tada thought that maybe the girl was in his class, but the boy seemed to be a senior. But there was no sign of Hiro.

"Hey, Aida-san, I thought you sai-" he turned to discover that Aida hadn't followed him, as he assumed. He quickly scanned the scene, but she was nowhere to be found. Odd. But where is Hiro?

"I…erm…" Tada tried to remember the name of the girl sitting on the senior. "Tsukuda-Chan? Have you seen my sister? Do you know her? She's in the same year as me, and someone told me she was involved, do you know what happened?" Tada babbled, hopelessly. Tsukuda stopped berating the senior, and looked at him.

"I know of your sister, Kitakawa. Don't worry, I got her out of the way quickly. She's with Yukiyama. " Tada blinked at the unfamiliar name. He wanted to ask who Yukiyama was, but decided not to. That wasn't particularly important at the moment.

"Where?" he demanded. The girl sighed, and got up, allowing the senior to sit up, rubbing his back. He muttered something about her being a jerk, and the girl turned on him, viciously. Tada noticed that the girl was taller than him (although not by much), and that her blazer was tied around her waist. He got the impression of a superhero, or a vigilante. I approve.

"That, you goddamn idiot, is what you get for teasing someone who never did anything to you? So what if Ichinose's a yakuza girl? She hasn't done anything wrong! And why on earth did you need to punc-"

"But, Tsukuda…" The boy interrupted. Tsukuda spun around and slapped the senior in the face, stopping his protests. The remaining students watching laughed, and Tsukuda glared at them.

"What happened, exactly? With Haru-Chan, I mean." Tada asked, still looking for his sister, and hoping for answers. Tsukuda turned, clearly having forgotten that he was there.

"Why?"

"Well…Haru-Chan is Hiro's friend, and so she's my friend. I know about the rumours, a bit. So, could you tell me?"

Tsukuda sighed, and undid her long black ponytail, retying it as she spoke.

"Honestly, I think Ichinose just lost it. A group of our classmates-"she paused to indicate where the injured students had been before continuing. "-thought it would be funny to corner her and ask her about her family's activities. She was tidying up the classroom after lesson, and tried to ignore them and leave, but they didn't let her, instead taunting her and challenging her to show off her 'yazuka skills'. This…this is the end result. " she finished. "Ichinose is headed to Principal Okikura's office, and I can guarantee she's in the process of getting excluded. I should be there too. But whatever. You know what exclusion means, don't you, Kitakawa?"

Tada sighed. He did know, and he hated that Haru would now have to go through that. But Hiro was his priority.

"W-what about Hiro?" he asked, mentally preparing himself for the answer. For the first time since the encounter, Tsukuda smiled.

"Don't worry, she's not in trouble. But she did try to pull Ichinose away before the worst of it, and got struck in the stomac-no, no, she's not seriously injured, and I made sure the scumbag responsible paid." The senior Tsukuda had been sitting on let out an aggrieved cry, which told Tada everything he needed to know about why he had been sat on in the first place. Tsukuda didn't react to that beyond rolling her eyes. "Anyway, Yukiyama was passing by, so I made him take her to the nurse's office. She didn't see the fight when it really kicked off. " Tsukuda sighed again.

Tada felt a mixture of relief, gratitude, and shame that he hadn't been there to do the job. He narrowed his eyes at the senior who had punched listened to the exchange, and the senior's eyes widened, and he pushed through the group of students and ran off. More followed, to Tada's relief.

"So you sent her away with Yukiyama before the fight got serious?" he asked, wondering why Aida had sent for him, all the while trying to recall which one of her friends had the family name of Yukiyama. He came up blank.

"Yes."

"Okay…before I go, could you tell me wh-"

"Tsukuda-san! I thought we had ordered you to come up to Principal Okikura's office immediately! " The same angry teacher who had been with Haru arrived back on the scene, causing the final onlookers to scatter. Tada didn't recognise the teacher, but Tsukuda did, because her face became a schooled expression of careful anger.

"Yes, sensei. Please hold on." She turned back to Tada. "Yukiyama is in Class 2C, same as Kitakawa. He wasn't involved in the incident, plus, Kitakawa likes him. But she was asking for someone to find you, so go now. Okay?"

"Y-yes." Asking for me. And I wasn't there. At least that explained why Aida had come to get him, although not why she had disappeared. There was also the small matter of Yukiyama being a boy. As far as he knew, apart from Kinomoto and Ueno, Hiro hadn't really been talking to any of the other boys in the school. So whoever Yukiyama was remained a mystery to him. Shrugging it off, he started to head to the medical room when something occurred to him, and he stopped and turned to face Tsukuda.

"Oh, Tsukuda-Chan? Call me Tada." Tsukuda tilted her head at him, curiously.

"Why?"

"Everyone does. That, and consider it a thank you. For stepping in." Because what you did makes you a friend of mine. Of Hiro's, too.

Tsukuda nodded, trying (and failing) to conceal what was clearly happiness at his statement. "In that case, it's Hanae to you."

"Tsukuda-san! Do you wish to have insubordination added to your school disciplinary record, too?" the angry teacher boomed. Tsukuda rolled her eyes conspiratorially, and gave Tada a last thumbs up before following the teacher reluctantly.

Now more or less alone, Tada searched for Ueno and the others, and felt a moment of anger when he didn't see any of them. But, as finding Hiro was more important, he clamped down on that and went in search of her. It took him some time and enough false turns to make him feel like he was Ayako, but he eventually found the spacious nurse's office. All the injured students were there, some lying in beds, others just sitting at the end. The two school nurses divided their time between the students, and he stopped one of them momentarily to find out where Hiro was. The nurse pointed him to a bed right at the very end of the room, and thanking her, he ran up to that bed.

Hiro was sitting on the bed, leaning against the pillows. She had taken off her school sweater and was holding an icepack under her shirt. The necklace which was normally concealed under her clothes was exposed. And she was talking to a boy sitting on a chair next to the bed. Pale, with dark hair and light brown eyes, Tada assumed him to be Yukiyama. There was something harsh and far-off in his manner, and the two of them were talking fairly quietly, but they seemed to be getting on well. Hiro in particular seemed hooked to his every word, a faint pink blush brightening her chee-oh, wait. He remembered how Tsukuda has said that Hiro 'liked' Yukiyama. At the time, he had thought she was referring to a simple opinion of character. How dense am I? He also wondered why he hadn't noticed the change in Hiro before.

He smiled at the realisation that his sister had a crush, and at the same time, both Hiro and Yukiyama turned to see him standing at the foot of the bed.

"Tada!" Hiro breathed, gratefully.

"Hiro." Tada said, simply. "You okay?" before Tada could answer, Yukiyama got up.

"I'll be off now." He said abruptly. He walked away, giving Tada a surly look. He wondered what it was that Hiro saw in Yukiyama. Only time'll tell, I guess. Hopefully Hiro will, too.

"Bye, Saito." Hiro called, softly. Yukiyama didn't return the farewell, but there was something in the way that his gait softened that suggested to Tada that he had acknowledged it.

"Saito-kun, huh? Already on first name terms?" he teased, taking the seat that Yukiyama had been sitting in. Hiro blushed even harder, and looked down at her laughed, and Hiro looked up again, smiling even as she became comparable to a tomato.

"I hear you like him. You'll have to tell me about that later,'kay? But what I need to know is- are you okay?"

"Mhm." Looking around her to check nobody was watching them, she started signing. "I broke one of my hearing aids though. Will Aunt Chika be mad?"

"Of course not." Tada thought about asking why she was so worried about another student spotting the fact she was deaf, but then realised that was a stupid thought- this was Kunugigaoka, and the incident with Haru reminded him all too deeply of that.

"They were going to video it, you know? They wanted to get Haru mad, and then video it and post it on Facebook or some place. Like, you know, a hey-look-it's-the-yakuza-daughter-going-bat-shit-viral-video or whatever. Because apparently fist fights are funny. But unfortunately for them, when Haru did get annoyed, the first thing she did was knock the phone away. And I think she broke it."

"Good for her." Tada couldn't help but sign, giving a wry laugh as he did so. Hiro giggled, too.

"They got most of the others- my class, but some third years too- to block the doorway as well, so that Haru couldn't just walk away. But to be fair to Aida-san, I don't think she realised that I was there, or that it would get bad. When the senpai hit me and I fell, she went to get you straight away. Oh, and don't get mad at Kinomoto-kun or Ayako or any of them, okay? I told them to go straight on ahead without me, so they didn't know."

"Ah, I see." Tada breathed a sigh of relief, glad that none of his friends were complicit. Then, he clocked something. To be fair to Aida-san. All of a sudden, he realised why Aida had disappeared as soon as she'd found him. He sucked in a breath, and Hiro's expression told him that his conculsion had been correct.

"Oh, Hiro." He sighed, sadly. "I'm sorry I wasn't there at the time." He lamented aloud, suddenly feeling heavy.

Hiro shook her head sadly, adjusting her icepack.

"Don't be. You were spending time with Akira-san, right?" She said. "That's not a crime. Besides, you would have just gotten yourself excluded, too. Like poor Haru." Her voice went a little thicker, signalling her sadness, and Tada reached over to hug her for a moment, careful not to injure her further. When he sat back, Hiro smiled at him.

"So," Tada asked. "Will you be able to go back to class, or do I need to get the teachers to sign you off for the day?"

"Nah. I have every intention of going back to class." She stated determinedly. "I want to stare down every last one of those dumb-bells. Idiots, the lot of them."

Tada chuckled heartily at Hiro's novel insult. Dumb-bells, indeed.

"Sounds like a good plan to me. There's still some time left until lesson starts again though. Take it easy until then."

Hiro nodded and leaned back a little more, shifting to make herself more comfortable.

"You'll stay?" she signed.

"Of course." He replied, instantly.

…

At the end of the day, Tada went to meet Hiro at her class. Ueno and the others, horrified by what had happened (once they had been told) stuck close to them. Ever knowledgeable on Class 3E and how one could end up there, Ueno confirmed that as a result of whatever had happened, both Haru and Tsukuda would be in Class 3E next year, and nothing could be done about that- and they'd remain excluded for the rest of the year, even though they'd have to come in for the exams anyway. It was just the way things were. But, to his credit, he admitted that it was a sad way for things to turn out, especially if Haru had been bullied to the extent claimed.

When they got home, Tada and Hiro opted to not do their homework straight away as they had become accustomed to, and instead decided to have a few combat rounds after changing. Then, they watched an old favourite anime series until Chika came home. As predicted, she didn't get mad at Hiro's broken hearing aid, having prepared for such an eventuality almost as soon as she'd known they'd be in her care. So in that respect, everything was fine.

Tada never did find out everything that happened in that fight, but it did change things. Hiro's friendship with Aida became a lot more strained, and she started to have trouble sleeping. Tada noticed that she would turn off her hearing aids in school more often, relying on lip-reading to get her through the day, but just tuning most other things out. Naturally, nobody was any the wiser. Apart from Aida, most of her other friendships remained intact. Her academics didn't suffer at all, as this was something she was always good at, but she didn't seem to care only times she was more like her usual self was when she was with Tada, talking to Yukiyama, or attending dance club. Apart from that, she seemed only to be killing time.

Tada, on the other hand, went the other way. He spent more time with Ueno and the others and even managed to get Akira to join them a few times. He practised sparring with more intensity, usually with Hiro, but when Tatsuya and Jin came around to visit one time he did have a session with Jin, who was an aspiring boxer. He also threw himself headfirst into his studies, holding more study groups at his house, as well as studying alone. He wanted to do well, and more than that, he wanted to be one of the best in the year. He figured that something needed to change, and since Kunugigaoka was an academically oriented school, he thought that the only way to do that was to get to the top. If he was respected by the school, they'd listen when he spoke. So he approached his school life with intensity, determined to reach his goals.

And all the while, the end of year exams drew closer.

So...I still have one OC spot left, and I really, really need some submissions for that, and it REALLY doesn't matter if you've given me characters already (as I keep saying, lol). As usual, below are the OCs introduced in this chapter. Please do leave feedback!( EDIT 13/7/15: this bit can be ignored now-see note at the beginning of the chapter)

Characters Introduced:

Ayako Takashita (Belongs to: Fryllabrille201)
Saito Yukiyama (Belongs to: 3-E Student)
Hanae Tsukuda ( Belongs to: xXxAnGeLFLoNnExXx)-EDIT 12/7/15: turns out I mis-typed Tsukuda's surname the first time I uploaded this chapter, so the reupload is to fix that ^^

I wonder how many times I'll be reuploading this chapter, lol ^^