Partners
(Tsubasa x Misaki)
Disclaimer: I don't, and never will I, own Gakuen Alice.
"I've heard about you two, let's see if you're together for better or for worse. Especially you, Andou," Jinno turned around and went back in front to start the lesson.
Tsubasa and Misaki looked at each other with wide eyes. Tsubasa felt the sleepiness go away and was wide awake the whole lesson. Thanks goodness he did because Jinno kept on pelting him with questions.
"Now that was scary," Megane said when they got out of the classroom. "You better watch out now, Tsubasa-kun."
"I was especially sleepy today, though, why today of all days?" he said as he yawned. "I had to stay up late to review for that quiz on 121. Why did they have to put 121 and Math on the same day anyway?"
"Oh, hey guys, looks like Math isn't boring today," they passed by Kaname and Nobara who were arriving for their Math class.
"What do you mean isn't boring, you guys better prepare, he gave us a surprise quiz," he said as he fist-bumped with Kaname.
"A comprehensive one, at that," Misaki added as she smiled at the two.
"We already had a quiz on 121 and now another quiz?" Kaname's eyes widened. "I stayed up late for that 121, my brain won't function anymore!"
They all laughed before heading off. Anna and Nonoko went back to their dorms. The three of them then went to SCA's clubroom. They are required to stay in the clubroom for a required number of hours per week.
"Ah, there they are," Tono, as they have expected, was there. He immediately put an arm around him. "For those who haven't met him, this guy right here is my mentee. Pretty good looking like me, huh."
SCA assigns a mentor for each applicant. How the recruitment team assigns them though, is still a mystery. And Tono is his mentor, much to his chagrin. He thinks that Kaname would have matched Tono better.
"Hey, that's Hajime, external relations head, go do his task right now and get his sign. He doesn't come here much so grab this chance," he whispered to him while pointing to a lanky guy with a bandage on his neck. "Don't worry, he just got into an accident, he won't beat you up."
He gulped then looked at Misaki who was also looking at the guy. She then looked at Megane who also nodded. They then made their way to approach the silent guy.
"Uhm, hi, we're applicants. I'm Tsubasa, this is Misaki and Megane," he gave out his hand. The guy looked at them one by one then took his hand.
"I'm Hajime, external relations head. What year are you?" he didn't smile but the air around him seemed to relax a bit.
"We're all second years," Misaki answered for them with a smile.
"Sophomores, my mentee is a second year too, do you guys know him? His name was Hayate, yeah that's right, Matsudaira Hayate," he looked up as he tried to remember. "Haven't met him, though."
They all tried to hide their grin. An almost never seen mentor, and a sleepyhead mentee, what a match. Even he was really surprised when they found out Hayate was applying for SCA too. They found out later that he was a late sign up, who just went along with some of his blockmates who were applying too. "He's my classmate since grade school, and he also stays at the East Boys' Dorm. He's probably just sleeping, wait, let me try to call him," he took out his phone and gave Hayate a ring before texting him to get his butt here.
They chatted a bit with Hajime before he gave them his personal task as he was an officer. His task was simply to answer his questions about the current corporate sponsors of the organization, which were discussed to them during the first few applicants' assemblies. Hayate came after they were done and they left the pair to get to know each other.
"How was he? He's pretty cool, huh?" Tono immediately went between him and Megane. "A bit silent but really killer in getting sponsors. So, Andou, let's have a man to man talk."
Tono led him to the balcony at the back of the clubroom. "Your girlfriend, Harada, she's really pretty, since when have you been together?"
"That's why you took me here? And she's not my girlfriend," he looked out to see an aerial view of the campus grounds. The Architecture building was only 4 floors high, but really huge, and clubrooms are in the fourth floor, each having their own balcony. "I just met her when we became blockmates this semester."
"Oh, she's not your girlfriend? So that means I can hit on her," Tono's eyes glinted and looked over at Misaki who was talking with her mentor, the club president herself. He lightly dunked Tono's head away with his hand.
"Why am I always surrounded by perverts?" he scratched his head and leaned on the railings.
"Anyway, how's SCA for you? You've only gone on assemblies so far and we haven't really asked you to submit real outputs, but what do you think?"
"Except for the fact that my mentor's a pervert, I think I like it here. It's easy to be with the people here and I like the org's atmosphere," he answered truthfully.
"That's good. Just remember that you can ask me anything when you need help," Tono gave him an assuring smile. "Especially if it's about girls." WHACK!
"What was that?" she said to Tsubasa when he went back inside the clubroom and joined her and the other applicants.
"Nothing," he just smiled. "By the way, I'm going with you later, I need to buy some materials not available in the university shop."
"Okay. Do you have an idea for our individual output already? I still can't think of any," one of the final requirements for the application is a design for a small multi-purpose hall for the beneficiary village of one of SCA's main projects.
"I'm still thinking about it. The theme's 'peace and joy', I'm thinking of something simple with a playground or whatever," he said, looking up at the ceiling of the clubroom.
That Friday, they had their first major program for the application process, Projects workshop. In the workshop, they were taught the basics of coming up with startup projects and handling them. Afterwards, they were grouped and were given a situation in which they had to come up with an idea for a startup project.
She and Tsubasa were put in the same group.
"So we have a sponsor and a beneficiary, but what event do we do? Since the theme is education, I think we have to do something like workshops," most of the applicants were freshmen and sophomores, but there were also a handful of juniors, and Kana, a junior, was part of the group and naturally led them.
"There would be no much end-product there, that would be small for the budget given by the sponsor," the brainstorming went on. The group mostly decided on having a teaching caravan and giving out kits that are about architecture at each caravan. They all knew they were still lacking something, though.
Tsubasa, who was lightly joining the brainstorming earlier, blew on the air then raised his body, which was leaned back the entire session. "Look, remember that the sponsor is an architecture firm. The caravan is fine, but it doesn't really have that much of an impact. What about a designing contest? Then we put up an exhibit where all entries will be placed and also some designs from the architects themselves, and instead of caravans, we just do a one day workshop there, ending with a tour of the exhibit. I think it would be more inspiring to see actual plates rather than the usual talks." Everyone was looking at him and they were all at awe. Even Misaki couldn't help but be impressed. He noticed the look the whole group gave him. "What?"
"Nothing, but I think we all agree with what he said? I think it's a really good idea, we just have to specify requirements for the contest," she gave him a smile before facing the group. Everyone nodded at her. "Okay, so I think we're settled with that, a contest and an exhibit it is then. But I think we should do this a one week exhibit. Venues for things like this can be costly but I think this would attract a lot of schools and also clients for the firm. A small venue would be okay and then we hold talks everyday for a week or a few days to accommodate everyone who would attend. As for speakers, since we want to inspire students into taking up architecture, we can get upper level architecture students, preferably those already having their practicum, and one from the firm. For the contest mechanics, we ask them to design for example, a small house. And theme's economical yet stylish. And we can also specify the materials to be considered in designing the structure."
The group's pace suddenly went faster and everyone became more excited. They were able to take note of all the details before it was time to present each group's project.
For his group, Kaname was the main presenter. They didn't know if he was doing it on purpose, but he kept on flashing a charming smile every now and then.
"He's doing that on purpose, I'm telling you," Tsubasa whispered to her. "Don't fall for it, you'll lose your concentration."
She just nodded at Tsubasa. Kaname was really handsome and he knew how to use his charms. Everyone's attention was focused on him, the females all swooning, the males all irritated.
"Hey, you're presenting for our group, stop looking, we'll kill you if you can't present properly," Tsubasa nudged her this time. He then looked at their other groupmates. "Why did we choose an all-girls team to present for us, anyway?"
All three of them who will present their group's idea were girls. And right now, they were all focused on Kaname. Kaname's group's idea was actually nice and interesting but everyone was more focused on Kaname than what he and his groupmates were saying.
After Kaname's group's presentation, it was their group. Luckily, she and the two others were able to regain their composure and went in front.
She was nervous. She was every time she needs to present in front of people. But they were able to present smoothly. They were even given a standing ovation by Tono.
"That old man really is a pervert," Tsubasa said when they went back to them. "But good job, you three, I really thought we had to whack you because you were distracted by that Kaname. Especially you, Misaki, never thought you were the type to grow hearts in your eyes. Seems like you're a girl not just because of chromosomes."
WHACK! "Would you repeat that, Tsubasa?" her eyebrows twitched.
"No, Madam, no!" Tsubasa quickly said as he rubbed the right side of his face. "God, Misaki, you have the strength of 10 wrestlers!" WHACK! BAM!
"Hey, are you still mad about yesterday? My face still hurts, you know," the following morning, as has been the case since the start of the semester, Tsubasa met up with Misaki at the train station. But this time, he came earlier than her. Around two minutes earlier, actually. He handed her his usual apology treat, coffee from the café just a few blocks away from the station, and, as he eventually figured out, is Misaki's favorite coffee shop. "Here, and sorry for yesterday again."
Misaki accepted the cup. She inhaled the aroma first before taking a sip. She seemed to relax a bit. "But you really did well yesterday. You weren't nervous at all."
"What do you mean not nervous? My nerves won't stop shaking the moment I stood up from my seat," her voiced raised a bit that everyone else in the train looked at them. She immediately lowered her voice.
"It didn't show though. You were really great out there, I'm telling you," he was telling the truth. They had no gimmicks whatsoever but Misaki definitely caught everyone's attention, well, at least he was sure he was really attentive at that time. She presented each detail clearly and with much confidence that had he been Tono, as Projects Head, he would definitely give her a standing ovation too and accept her project proposal on the spot. Misaki's skills plus the fact that the idea was really good. "You seemed confident in presenting and in our idea. Everyone was listening despite the lack of 'Kaname tactics'."
They both laughed. "By the way, remind me to check my webmail later, I might forget to go online when I start making that homework for 101," Misaki remembered as they were nearing his stop.
"Oh shoot, good thing you reminded me, I almost forgot we had that homework for 101, that's why I felt like I was too free," he scratched his head. "Yeah, okay, I'll text you. And recruitment team is releasing groupmates for project output tonight, you have to check that too. And we've arrived at my station, I'll text you later. See you on Monday."
As she said, she almost forgot to go online once she started doing homework for 101. And Tsubasa almost forgot to remind her too, since he fell asleep immediately after lunch. It was almost dinner when she received a text from him asking if she had already seen the assigned groupings for project output. She immediately went online to check it. They didn't become groupmates after all. Actually, they were all separated, Tsubasa, Kaname, Megane, Nobara, and her.
At that time, Tsubasa had only started making his homework for 101. They then shared opinions on each other's homework ideas.
Things started getting hectic the following week. All of their classes were in full blown lecture modes and SCA's application process is starting to get more serious too.
"Hey, Tsubasa, were you able to study for 121?" was her greeting first thing on Tuesday morning.
"Yeah, I did, but we're probably going to have a quiz on Math today too, huh? We're already done with last week's lesson," he said as he placed his things under the table.
"I didn't, since I already felt that we're going to have a quiz on Math today, I studied that one," Megane's face was flat on the table, facing them. They could see the dark circles beneath his glasses.
Kazu then arrived and class started with a quiz.
"I'm pretty sure I almost failed that one. Good thing it was a bit easy," Megane said, depressed, as they went to the cafeteria for lunch. "I can probably still pass that one."
"Hey, it's alright, just make sure you focus in class, you won't have a hard time studying after if you do," she smiled at him. They ate lunch and went to their Math classroom immediately to do some last minute reviewing just in case Jinno decided to give them a quiz again. And he lived up to their expectations. He did give a quiz after a short recap of last week's lesson.
"It was a good thing I reviewed for that one, if I didn't, I would have forgotten how to solve those problems already," Megane exclaimed as soon as they were out of the classroom. They all laughed and chatted along the way and then Anna and Nonoko headed for the North Dorms while the three of them went to SCA's clubroom.
It's been a pattern, they always had lunch together. On Tuesdays and Thursdays Nobara and Kaname are with them, then they'll go on their separate classes again. After Math, Tsubasa, Megange, and she would go to SCA's clubroom, Anna and Nonoko would go back to the dorms, while Nobara and Kaname would go to the clubroom after their last class. Tsubasa would always need to text Hayate to go to the clubroom, though.
"Hey, applicants, are you ready for this week's workshop? It's time for Marketing so make sure you attend on Friday, okay?" Chiaki, who also happens to be Megane's mentor, announced at the clubroom. She was really energetic, much like Megane.
"You know, this mentor and mentee thing? I think they matched it according to personality. But does that mean the recruitment team thinks I'm a pervert too?" Tsubasa said, horrified at the thought, as he looked at Chiaki who was coming down from the table she climbed on when she did her announcement. They just laughed at him.
That night, they received an email from Fukutan saying that there will be reporting for their class on Friday. He gave them the topic and asked them to just group themselves into 3 persons per group. She immediately sent a message to Tsubasa and Megane who quickly accepted.
"Hey, Tsubasa, where's the canvas? Megane-kun, did you bring your laptop?" Friday morning and they were all panicking. "Gosh, we still have a workshop at SCA later!"
"Don't panic, we got it," Megane smiled and opened his laptop to show her the presentation. Tsubasa took out the canvas where they drew and colored the image Fukutan included in his email. She gave it a quick look before she finally settled in her chair.
"Okay guys, is everyone prepared for the presentation? I'm sorry for the short notice, I forgot to send the email during the weekend," Fukutan said when he arrived. "Okay, shall we start?"
Because of Tsubasa's surname, they had to start first. They set up the projector and the canvas on the easel prepared by Fukutan. Since it was just a quick presentation, Misaki spoke for the group by herself, the two only butting in a few times.
"We survived that, guys, can you believe that?" Megane said when they got out of the classroom.
"But we still have workshop later," she reminded them. "Do your groups have a project idea for the group output already? Submission's tomorrow."
"My group's done with the Project Overview, that's all we have to submit tomorrow, right?" Megane answered.
"Yeah, we already have an idea but we haven't finalized it so we haven't written the overview," Tsubasa said. They reached the cafeteria and had lunch before their next class.
Later at the workshop held by the Marketing department, they were split into groups again after the talk and were given the task to advertise a fictional project.
She and Nobara got into the same group. Tsubasa and Megane got into the same group also.
"Hey guys, give it your all, the Marketing department is giving a special prize to the group who advertises the project the best," the Marketing department vice president announced. That sparked competitiveness among the groups. Each group started planning more seriously. Traditional to outrageous plans for advertising can be heard from each group's conversation.
"Kaname, go dance or sing or take off your shirt," Kaname's group was particularly loud.
"How does that relate to the project?" "I dunno, but it'll surely make all the ladies agree with whatever we say. There's no rule that says attendees have to be both guys and girls."
"Hey, if Kaname is one of that group's speakers, I'll be our main speaker," they heard Tsubasa say. She and Nobara looked up and saw him observing Kaname whose group was on the other side of the room. "I have a feeling all the girls will be distracted again."
He then looked at her direction with eyes saying, "looks like your group's dead meat." She aimed her fist at him and mouthed, "I'm not speaking for my group, idiot!"
"They had better be prepared for our group," Nobara giggled. They both looked at their guy groupmates who were practicing what they will be saying later. They then went back to making the poster that they will also present in front.
As expected, Kaname was one of the presenters of his group. This time though, he was more focused on advertising than using his charms.
"He's good at creatives and he's good at presenting, definitely for marketing," she said to Nobara. "He's good even without deliberately using his charms."
"I think it comes naturally though," Nobara said then laughed.
"That's it, I'll be presenting for our group," they heard Tsubasa say to his groupmates. They looked over at his group.
"Yup, they are already distracted," Megane said as he waved his hand in front of their female groupmates who didn't even notice because they were too busy fangirling on Kaname.
Tsubasa's group's presenters were an all boys group led by Tsubasa. He was relaxed in front, casually explaining what the project is all about.
"Tsubasa is actually cool right now," she couldn't help saying. He didn't have Kaname's public speaking skills, but she was more focused on Tsubasa than she was during Kaname's presentation. He had a clean style of presenting, much like in his plates and other outputs. And she was pretty sure he did most of the poster, which looked really nice. Once again, she was impressed. And looks like most others were, too.
"Andou-kun's really good looking and he's so cool," she heard girls from other groups say. "But isn't he with Harada-san? They're always together."
"I heard they weren't an item, that's good news, I guess." "Oh my gosh, did you see that smile?" "Ahh, it was a really good decision to take up Architecture. There are so many good looking guys in here."
The group reached the end of their presentation and she saw Tsubasa blow a breath of relief. They went back to sit with their groupmates who were near them. Tsubasa stopped in front of her.
"Did I do okay?" he asked her. Despite the emcee calling on the next presenting group, everyone was looking at them. "Hey, how was I?"
"You did okay," she raised her two thumbs and a nervous smile. She can feel the girls' jealous stares at her while Tsubasa was oblivious.
"Whew, I was nervous as hell," he smiled at her before going back to his seat.
"I thought you said they weren't an item?" "But I heard some people ask them and they both said no."
"Contrary to what Kaname-kun said, looks like you'll be getting more haters than fans," Nobara said.
"I prefer fans than haters," she laughed nervously.
In the end, it was Kaname's group that earned the best group award for that workshop. They had to admit, they made the best poster and were also the best presenting group overall.
"You're the best in creatives, after all," Tsubasa said as he playfully shook Kaname's head when they were going home. "But you were still deliberately charming all the girls."
"Hey, I wasn't doing that," Kaname denied. A couple of their female co-applicants then passed by them and waved at him. "Bye, be careful on the way!"
"And there you go, all thoughts of Kaname-kun being cool just went away," she said and they all laughed. As per usual, they split up when they got out of the building. "Hey, Tsubasa, don't even dare be late tomorrow, I want to go home early."
"Yeah, yeah, I won't, oi, Kaname, you heard that, make sure I wake up to my alarm," he said to Kaname.
"You two go home together?" Hayate was also with them.
"Yeah, want to go with us? We go at 9 in the morning though, any later and she'll bite people." WHACK!
"You dare say that again, Tsubasa?" she said then faced Hayate with a smile. "You can join us, Hayate-kun, we meet at the train station at 9."
"Looks like no video games for me tonight," Hayate said. They then went their separate ways. The four guys go back to the dorms while she goes with Nobara who drops her off at her apartment since it's along the way.
Hayate did make it the following morning, but Tsubasa had to drag him.
"Here, Misaki, sorry I forgot to wake him up earlier," Tsubasa said to her as he handed her the usual coffee. "It's a good thing the people at the coffee shop already knows me, the order was quickly processed."
"I forgot to set up my alarm, sorry, Harada-san," Hayate said to her. The train arrived and they boarded that one. Tsubasa sat beside her while Hayate took the seat across the aisle from them. He was playing games on his console and was sleeping a few minutes later. Tsubasa woke him up when they were nearing their stop.
The following weeks that followed was marked by projects, homeworks, quizzes, exams, and workshops both in academics and their application to SCA. In almost every meeting in 101 under Narumi, they had to pass an output. 111 under Fukutan was filled with alternating outputs and reports. 121 under Kazu was for the most part just boring lectures, but they had quizzes from time to time, a few papers, and one exam. Math was stressful as always. Don't even mention it, as Megane always said.
SCA too was getting a bit heavy for them applicants. Workshops from each department were done and now they focus on fulfilling each department's official tasks and on their individual and group outputs. Their schedules were filled to the brim, but it was fun nonetheless. How Hayate was still able to play video games, though, is still a mystery to them, even to his roommates, according to Tsubasa and Kaname.
It was the week before midterms, and even 101 is going to have a written exam. Everyone was busy trying to review and copy notes they lacked. 121, Math, and Physics were particularly being prepared for since they already knew how hard the exams are going to be since they already had their first exam before this.
They were in their classroom waiting for Narumi when a few female blockmates they had come to get to know a bit approached them, or rather, Tsubasa.
"Andou-kun, there are some parts in this lesson we didn't understand, can you explain them to us?"
"You can just see my homework and see what details you missed," Tsubasa gave them his homework for that lesson, in which he got the highest mark, having gotten every detail right. "Just give it back after class. Hey, Misaki, since we're not going home this weekend, want to review together? Let's stay at your favorite coffee shop."
The girls looked a bit disappointed that Tsubasa dismissed them immediately but said thanks and went back to their seats.
"You are a bit dense, aren't you?" she said as she shook her head. "But yeah, sure, we can do that this weekend, it'll be nice to have someone to compare notes with. Just make sure you are not noisy or distracting in any way when I'm reviewing."
Kaname joined them that weekend in the café. Hayate was going to join them too, but he had to go home to Shimoda.
The following week, the midterms week, was marked by heavy bags due to bringing of reviewers and books. Juggling reviewing and accomplishing tasks for SCA, they had somehow survived the hellish week. The week after that, almost all professors were able to release the results of the exams and posted these outside their doors.
It was Thursday when all of their classes released the results of the exams, except for Math, that is.
"Good afternoon, class. I had just finished checking all of your test papers and I will be releasing your grades tomorrow. Just pass by my office and it will be posted there before noon. I do hope that you did well on your other subjects because well, Math might come out to be bad news for you," Jinno said as soon as he got inside their classroom. They all tensed up at his last statement.
The following morning, as Jinno had promised, the grades of all three blocks were already posted on the bulletin board outside his office. To keep their scores a bit anonymous, professors usually used their student id numbers instead of their name. Jinno did the same, especially since they saw a lot of low scores on the lists.
"I did alright, what about you guys?" she asked them. She was with Tsubasa, Megane, Anna, and Nonoko. They went there after 111.
"I did okay too," Tsubasa said. Anna and Nonoko also said their scores were okay. Megane just nodded. He was quiet as they went back to their building to have lunch before their next class. They decided not to pry and let him be.
When they got to the cafeteria, it was brimming as usual since it was lunchtime. Luckily for them, Hayate was there having lunch. They joined him in his table.
"Hey, we've seen our scores in Math, did you see yours?" Tsubasa asked him.
"Not yet, planning to go there before going back to the dorm," he answered. They all ordered food and chatted while eating.
They were talking about their tasks and outputs for SCA when Megane finally spoke.
"Guys, I think I'll have to quit SCA."
Author's Note: Ahh, somehow managed to squeeze in the chapter I was working on for this week before I release Chapter 4. Well, I'm not yet actually done as I publish this, but I'll continue it after this. It's because I only got to writing it a couple of days ago. This week I got ill for a few days so I couldn't write. Anyway, this chapter marks the start of a technique I wanted to use in this story, I don't know if I'll be able to execute it properly, though. Well, I hope you like this chapter nonetheless, see you next week!