Chapter 3

90

That one number sitting right next to my name…

I passed! I passed! I passed the test! Saitou-kun and I both! I'm so glad!

"Utau-san!" I look to my right and see Saitou-kun walking towards me. "Hey! We passed! Isn't that great?" He asks once he's sanding next to me.

"Yes! I know! We passed! We passed!" I grin, jumping up and down on the spot. Saitou-kun just laughs slightly

"I never knew you had this side to you." He smiles. I stop jumping and blush lightly.

"Eh. Ahaha. Gomen. I kinda show more of my true side when I'm really happy and feel comfortable to be myself around someone… Yeah…"

"Minna, listen!" Ringo-sensei calls out to the crowd of students. "For those who didn't pass, you'll retake the test next week!"

"This time, take the bull by the horns and do everything you can to pass." Says the teacher standing next to Ringo-sensei. He's about a head taller than sensei and has short orange hair.

'Ah. That's Hyuuga Ryuuya! He's a teacher here too?!'

"Before class, kids who are in the idol course, pick up training materials at the office, okay?" Sensei tells everyone.

I turn to Saitou-kun before going with everyone else to collect the materials for the idol course.

"Ano. Saitou-kun? Ah, Gomen about before, you know, with how I was all like hyper and jumpy…"

"Don't worry. My sisters the same; she's really shy when she meets new people but warms up to them quickly and then is just herself." Saitou-kun assures me.

"Really? Saitou-kun has a sister?" He lets out a small laugh.

"Yeah, I have a sister. She's five years younger than me."

"That's so cool! I have a sister too! She's only two years younger than me though." I smile, thinking of my sister Chouko and how hyper she can be. "Oh, also, Saitou-kun, sorry about yesterday with how I just kind of started talking to Haruka and Otoya-kun without saying bye to you or anything."

"It's fine. I should've told you I was going to go but didn't want to interrupt you." He tells me. "Also, call me Kairi."

"Utau! You coming?!" I hear Otoya-kun shout to me.

"Ah! Co-coming!" I call back before quickly turning to Kairi-kun. "Bye! I'll see you in class." I then run off over to Otoya-kun and Tomochika-san.

"I'm glad you passed too, Tomochika." I hear Otoya-kun say to Tomochika-san as they walk into the classroom. I can't pay much attention to what they're saying because of what I'm looking at right in front of me.

There on the class black-board are comments from the students in the class, all surrounding my name which is written in the middle.

Suspicious Connections.

Favouritism: The truth behind her impossible ability.

Pathetic.

Such a high score, something like that could never be gained with someone of her skill.

She's quiet, Unconfident, Weak; these things never get you anywhere, it has to be because of connections or being a favourite.

"This kind of this is no good!" Haruka states and her and Tomochika-san run to the board, pick up the dusters, and start to franticly rub everything off. Haruka must have walked with the others back to class.

"Utau! Are you ok?!" Otoya-kun comes up to me and places a hand on my shoulder.

'I'm not gonna cry. I'm not gonna cry. It's stupid to cry. It's proving their points to be true…' I mentally try to stop myself from crying. 'Oh but who am I kidding? I am what they say I am. Everything written on that board is true. I am weak. I am pathetic. I won't amount to anything… They're all right…' I let a tear slide down my cheek; I don't care if they see me cry. What they say is true.

"Ah! Utau, don't cry! What they say isn't true! It's all lies!" Otoya-kun sees my tear and places his other hand on my other shoulder and tries to comfort me.

I can't believe what he's saying; it's nice that he's trying to comfort me but…

Letting more and more tears start to stream down my face I move out of Otoya-kun's grip on my shoulders and turn to run out the classroom.

"Ohayo-pu!" Ringo-sensei starts walking into the room. I nearly run into him but dodge and continue running out the room. "Nani? Utau-san, what happened?" I don't listen and just run down the halls and outside.

After running for a short time I soon feel warn and stop, sit on the grass, burry my face in my knees and attempt to calm down.

"Utau-san! There you are!" I hear Ringo-sensei's voice say to me. "Are you ok Uatu-san?" I feel a hand on my shoulder and hear his voice a lot closer.

Hearing a shuffling sound next to me I lift my head to look next to me and see that sensei has sat down next to me on the grass.

"Utau-san, what happened?" He asks me calmly.

I let a few more tears go down my face before telling him about everything that was written on the board and how I believe it all.

"Utau-san…" Sensei looks at me with a sad, caring smile them pulls me into a hug. Rubbing me on the back slightly he says "You know none of those things that they say are true. You know for a fact you don't have any special connections and we didn't give you that score because of any favouritism. We gave it to you because you sung that song with heart and the lyrics you wrote were inspirational."

Ringo-sensei moves me out of the hug but keeps his hands on my shoulders, staring intently at me.

"Utau-san, you're not pathetic, and your skills aren't terrible. You may be quiet and shy but you're working on that, aren't you?" I nod. "And you're defiantly not weak. Utau-san, you're a gifted student, one who is sure to succeed. Don't let what the others are saying get to you, but, this isn't a normal school; you know that. If you're gonna survive in this world, you've gotta bounce back, no matter what you're up against."

Ringo-sensei gives me a bright smile and I just weakly smile back.

"Though, you know, with you're condition, you need to take things easy. So don't get too overwhelmed by the others." Sensei gives me one last hug before standing up. "Well I've got my next class, so I've got to go. Take your next class off; I'll tell you're sensei that you won't be there ok?"

"Hai. Arigatou Ringo-sensei." I thank.

"One last thing," He says before leaving. "If you ever have any problems or need help, just come find me; I'll be around somewhere! Bye!" And with that, he turned around and walked away.

Feeling a little hungry I decide to go to Saotomate, and buy a bar of chocolate or something.

"Thank you, have a nice day!" The lady at the counter said after I paid.

I start to open my chocolate as I'm walking out the store and am about to take a bite when I bump into someone, causing me to fall over and drop my chocolate at the same time.

"Itai…" I mumble and stand up, rubbing my sore behind. I look up at the person I ran into to and am met with a head of deep blue hair and eyes a slight shade lighter. "To-Tokiya-kun? Wha-what are you doing here?"

He only stares at me and walks past me, I turn around to face him again and say

"Neh! You owe me a new chocolate!" That makes him stop and turn slightly to look at me again.

"You haven't changed at all."

"Well, the last time we saw each was only a few months ago." I pout, crossing my arms over my chest.

Tokiya-kun only sighs, turns around and then beckons me to go with him back into to the store where he buys me a new chocolate.

After Tokiya-kun had bought the few things he needed, we went and sat down on one of the benches by the lake.

"So, why'd you never tell me you were coming here?" I ask him. "Why are you here anyway?"

He tells me that he entered Saotome Academy in secret; his manager nor the president of the company know that he's attending, and only the headmaster knows who he really is. He's attending Saotome Academy because his manager has been starting to say that he would be better off performing in dramas and all that instead of singing when singing is what he loves the most; but even though he's here, he's not able to sing properly. I ask him what the problem is and he just says that he isn't singing with enough "heart" as Hyuuga-sensei put it. He's having trouble with singing. During these past couple of months that I haven't seen him; his career has started to go slightly downhill. He's still got just as many fans but his music just isn't him anymore.

"You made it into S class though; you're still better than me." I say, poking him on the arm.

Poking him a few more times I quietly gasp.

"Did you hear or see me sing for that test we had?!" I ask excitedly. I get no answer, just a look from the corner of his eyes. I pout, "Meanie! Talk to me!"

Poking my tongue out, I'm trying to cheer Tokiya-kun up in some way or at least get him to talk.

"Neh, neh Tokiya-kun! Talk to meeeeee!"

I hear him sigh as he turns to actually face me.

"When are you going to drop the honorifics? We're close enough aren't we?" He asks. My eyes sparkle

"You really think so?! Ok then Tokiya!"

"yonde iru koe
saa me o samashite…"

I hear my phone ringing by my head the next morning. Peaking open my eyes, I reach out and grab the phone and press answer, not bothering to see who it is. Propping myself up on one of my arms I hold the phone to my ear and hear the perky woman at the other end of the line.

"Ohayo Utau! How are you?" It's my mother. Groaning, I sleepily reply,

"Mum, why are you calling now, it's like, six thirty in the morning…"

"Nani? A mother can't ring her daughter to see how she is?"

"Not at this time of the morning. I was still sleeping…"

"Aw, I'm sorry sweetie, but we're all awake and since we haven't heard from you in a while we thought we should ring you!" She happily tells me.

"Matte. So you're telling me that Chouko is awake now? At this time?" I sit up in bed completely and lean forward a touch.

"Yep!" A younger girl's voice chirps through the phone.

"Since when are you up or even awake at this time?" I ask her. "Am I on speaker?"

"You sure are." A guy's voice replies this time.

"Hey Aoki! Is dad there? If he is, hello!"

"Hey squirt, how ya going?"

"I'm good. We found out the results to that test I was telling you about."

"And… what did ya get?" Chouko questions.

"I got ninety…" I trail off, pulling the phone away from my ear, already knowing what's coming next.

In 3… 2… 1…

"Ninety?!" My mum and sister scream down the phone. "You got ninety? Well done Utau! We're so proud of you!" Once they're quiet again, I put the phone back to my ear.

"Changing subject… Met any cute boys yet?" Mum asks.

I sigh.

"Muuuuum, it's forbidden to even be in love; I can't go round fancying every guy I see. Besides, I already told you this when I first moved here; you asked me the same question then."

Chouko giggles.

"Made any friends yet sis?" Aoki asks.

"Well, there are a bunch of really nice guys… I can't exactly say I call them 'friends' as such just yet… although, my partner for the test I've become quite friendly with." I explain. "Oh, and guess what? Tokiya is here as well! I spoke to him yesterday!"

"That nice boy you met while we were living in the city?" Mother asks me.

My family don't know about Tokiya being Hayato; I promised him I'd keep it secret and not tell anyone, even my family.

"Yes. That boy mum…" I move the phone away from my ear to check the time. Seven o'clock. Might as well actually get up now.

"Hey, I'll talk to you guys again soon, okay. Bye!" Hearing a chorus of bye from my family, I press End Call.

'Hmmm… I wonder what Otoya-kun is up to?' I think to myself, walking down the halls of the school. 'I'll go check his dorm room to see if he's there.'

I walk down more halls to the school dorm rooms and come to a stop outside of Otoya-kun's. Knocking on the door twice I wait a couple of seconds before someone opens the door. The person who answers isn't the person I'm looking for.

"Ah! Tokiya, I didn't know you shared a room with Otoya-kun. Do you know where he is?" I ask, smiling at him.

"Yeah, he went with Natsuki and Shou to the student kitchens."

"Is he baking something?" Before he can answer though I talk again; "Thanks Tokiya!" And with that, I run off towards the student kitchens.

As I come towards the kitchens I smell something burnt and hear someone's shouts.

"Why me?! Get away from me! Shoo! Shoo!"

'That sounds like Kurusu-kun. I wonder what's going on…?' I open the door to the kitchen I heard the shouting from to see Otoya-kun to fall to the ground. At the same time, Kurusu-kun runs into me, knocking us both over.

"Gomen, Utau-san" He apologizes, helping me back up, only to move behind me and grip onto my shoulders tight.

"Utau-chan! Would you like to try some of my chocolate?!" Shinomiya-kun asks me, holding a spoonful of some sort of black… thing, up to my face. I'm guessing that's what the burnt smell is.

"Don't have any or you'll be poisoned!" Kurusu-kun hoarsely whispers in my ear.

I put my hand up and wave it dismissively in front of myself, smiling sheepishly.

"Ah ha. Iie, kekkou desu(no, thank you) Shinokiya-kun. I'm fine." He shrugs and goes to try feed it to Kurusu-kun who only attempts to hide behind me more. "What… happened here anyway?"

"Ah well, I wanted to make a cake… for you… actually… and so I asked Na-chan for help but that didn't exactly work out…" Otoya-kun explains, now standing up, seemingly to have recovered from whatever happened to him.

"Eh? Fo-for… me? Doushite?" He rubs the back of his neck and embarrassedly grins at me, explaining how he feels sorry for me and wants me to see that what everyone else says isn't true.

He sighs, slumping his shoulders forward.

"Even if I can't give you a cake as a surprise I still want to make one."

"I could help you make one still if you'd like?" I offer. His face brightens up immediately and he gives me a really big hug.

"Really?!" I nod and just say that I'm going to need my apron though. Shinomiya-kun replies and says that I can borrow one of his. For some reason he brought more than one down here.

Only thing though is that I'm about two centimetres shorter than Kurusu-kun and so I have to fold the apron around the waist so I can wear it without tripping.

Otoya-kun, Kurusu-kun and I all go into another kitchen, bringing the ingredients that Shinomiya-kun has with us, while he stays back and cleans up.

Shinomiya-kun thankfully has all the right ingredients and enough for Otoya-kun and me to make a cake. The one Otoya-kun is baking isn't for me anymore; it's for everyone to share. I decide to also bake one alongside him; using a different recipe though. Kurusu-kun didn't want to bake one even though I offered; he was content with just helping Otoya-kun.

The next day I meet up with Haruka and we go into one of the music rooms together so she can practice playing piano. I'm only tagging along for moral support, I have no clue how to play piano but like the instrument.

"It's okay. You've been playing piano since you were little." I encourage her as she sits at the piano quietly, hands positioned over the keys, only staring at the music though.

She goes to start playing but seems to not be able to. I don't know what to say, don't let those things get to you, you're amazing, don't believe what others say. I could say these things but they won't help; I know Haruka and when she's like this, it doesn't work.

The door then opens and Hijirikawa-kun walks in. I continue to sit and lean against the window as he just comments about her not being in class but instead, here, practicing piano.

'Neh, I'm here too you know.' I think.

Hijirikawa-kun tells Haruka that he used to be the same and explains his story. He then comes over and sits down on the piano stool next to Haruka and starts to help her by simply playing 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'.

Together, the two start to play the song in more detail adding in chords and not just singular notes. Haruka smiles, pleased that she is able to play again without her fingers freezing up.

Leaning against the window I feel like an unwanted shadow. So doing what I feel is best, I move from my spot and silently make my way to the door and exit the music room. I wasn't needed nor was I wanted in that room.

The rest of the day dragged on per usual. Attending classes, eating with everyone, being shy as I am, you know; the usual.

Night came soon enough and I was glad to just get ready for bed and go to sleep.

A few days later, Ringo-sensei asked for Haruka to play a piece on piano. She'd been practicing everyday with Hijirikawa-kun now.

People started to doubt her again, thinking she wouldn't be able to play again but she proved them wrong and played really well.

Happy for her, Otoya-kun, Shinomiya-kun, Tomochika-san and I all gave the peace sign, grinning at each other.