I knew you were mine. You said you were mine. I thought you were mine.

- Phillipa Soo/Eliza Hamilton, "Burn"


After finishing her bento, Naoko pulled up the sheet of clubs out and began to look over it once again. There were pen marks running all over the page, crossing out certain clubs like the cooking club.

"Haven't you picked a club yet?" Iwaizumi asked, noticing how intensely she regarded the piece of paper.

"No," Naoko replied without lifting her gaze. "My teacher has given me up until the end of the day to decide." She handed the paper to Tadashi. "Here. Personally, I think you'd do well in the literature club."

She's letting him decide, Oikawa noted, eating the last bite of his lunch. Of course she is. I wonder... "What about the volleyball club?"

Iwaizumi gave him a warning glance but added, "It's up for consideration too. You should choose it if you're interested."

Almost at once, Tadashi's eyes gleamed with hope. But the light in his irises disappeared when Naoko spoke.

"Maybe," she said uncertainly. "If things work out that way... it's all up to Tadashi. It's best if we decide now. Please, Tadashi-nii?"

"Well..."

"Tadashi-nii," Sumire spoke up, garnering all the attention. Though she didn't seem like the type to flourish under attention, she ploughed on. "If you're passionate about something, then go for it. If you don't..." She glanced at her violin. "You'll end up regretting it more."

"I don't have a passion," Tadashi confessed, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm not good at anything..."

"Sometimes, passion has to be found by working hard at something," Naoko pointed out. She sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but... if you want to play volleyball again, then do it."

"We'll introduce you to everyone," Iwaizumi offered. "You won't feel out of place." He turned to Oikawa, who had this pensive expression on his face. "Right, Oikawa?"

"Hmm?" The brunet seemed to be snapped out of a daze. "Oh, right. Of course, Dashi-chan."

"I..." Tadashi swallowed, the words stuck in his throat. "Okay."

Naoko started nodding. "Then it's decided. We're both joining the volleyball club."

Nobody spoke. In fact, they all stared at her, even Sumire.

"Ah, about that," Oikawa began slowly. "Tadashi will be joining the boy's volleyball club."

Silence. Then;

"So? Can't I join as a manager or something?"

"The coach doesn't want any female managers," Iwaizumi explained rather callously. "We used to have female managers trialling but..." He gave Oikawa a withering stare. "They only came for one reason."

"Not my fault," Oikawa defended. "I can't help it if I'm popular, can I?"

"Judging from what I've heard so far, you encourage them," Naoko said, raising an eyebrow. "So you're not exactly innocent either, dumb chihuahua."

"She's got you there," Iwaizumi said unhelpfully.

"Rude! All of you are so rude."

Naoko gave Tadashi a longing stare, as if she were afraid of being separated with him for too long. Then she bowed her head. "Don't let me influence your decision, Tadashi-kun. Do volleyball. I'll find another club." She looked up at where Oikawa and Iwaizumi were sitting. "Treat him well."

"Of course."

"Yay! Dashi-chan's joining the team."

At that, Iwaizumi shot him a look, one that Naoko could not really decipher. Was it guilt? It seemed an awful lot like guilt but Naoko didn't know what the boy had to be guilty about.

"I should be getting back to school," Sumire announced, standing up and picking up her bag and violin. "I'll see you at Hamilton-san's."

Ah, yes, the group meeting Dr. Hamilton requested. He had sent all of them an individual text explaining his intentions. It had not slipped Naoko's mind, and she had already called up Umeko saying that she couldn't make it to her shift due to club activities and the appointment.

The woman had been understanding, something that Naoko was grateful for.

Naoko took the list of clubs back from Tadashi, who was now striking up a conversation with Iwaizumi and Oikawa about how Aobajosai's volleyball team worked (or rather, they struck up a conversation with him).

Now that volleyball's out of the question... what should I choose?


"Inoue-sensei?"

The teacher in question looked up from his desk, his glasses nearly slipping off his nose. "Oh, hello, Makoshima-san. Have you decided what club you want to join?"

"Yes," Naoko replied, clutching tightly the list of clubs in her hand, crinkling the paper with her grip. "I've decided to join the martial arts club."

Surprise flashed on Inoue's face before he nodded. He typed a few things on his computer before pausing. "Ah, about that... applications have already closed. It closed last Thursday. So have most of the other clubs. The only ones left are the cooking club, the drama club and the swimming club. Of course, there's also the boy's volleyball club but, obviously, you won't be able to join."

"... Oh."

"You should have picked earlier," Inoue scolded. "Now you've only got three choices left. You should not leave things to the last minute."

"Yes, sensei." It wasn't my fault. She felt a spike of irritation at Tadashi but the feeling disappeared as quickly as it came. It wasn't Tadashi's fault. He was right to be wary of the volleyball club and consider his options carefully. ... I guess it is my fault then. Figures.

Inoue handed her three application forms, one for each club he had listed. "Here. Choose now."

Naoko stared at the forms. None of those clubs appealed to her. Cooking was certainly out of the question. She found absolutely zero enjoyment in cooking, and only did it to feed her family.

Swimming... she was never fond of getting wet if she didn't have to. She supposed that, in a way, Oikawa was right - she was rather like a cat.

Not that she would ever admit that to him. She'd never hear the end of it from him. Always running his stupid, annoying mouth...

"I'd like to join the drama club," Naoko said, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice.

"Excellent choice. The drama club has always been low on members, which is why it's open all year round. Fill out the form and give it to Tachibana-sensei." Inoue motioned to where a young brunette with an ahoge was sitting, twirling her pen in her long, slender fingers. There were a pair of red rimmed glasses perched her her nose.

Nodding silently, Naoko did as she was told, standing by Tachibana for a few seconds before clearing her throat, forcing the brunette to acknowledge her.

"Oh!" Tachibana grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I tend to space out a lot, you see. I was trying to decide what we should do this year for our annual Culture Day performance. Gah, I'm getting off topic again. Did you need something?"

Naoko sweatdropped at the teacher's eccentricity. "Ah, yes..." She handed the teacher her application form. "I would like to join the drama club. If you'll have me," she added as an afterthought.

Tachibana looked over the form once before glancing up at the girl's impassive face. After about a minute of staring, Naoko began to get slightly uncomfortable.

"Tachibana-sensei - "

"You're in," Tachibana declared, pushing her glasses up. "Our club meeting starts now, actually. Come with me, I'll show you to the club room."

"Thank you."

Tachibana blinked curiously at Naoko's lack of enthusiasm. Did she or did she not want to join the drama club? The students in the club seemed to be polar opposites with this girl. Maybe she was just shy. Yeah, that had to be it. No matter; Tachibana would get her to open up to her new club mates.

When they arrived at the club room, there were several students already there, chatting excitedly. As Tachibana stepped in the room, all their attention was shifted to her.

"Hello, everyone!" Tachibana trilled, clapping her hands together. "Nice to see that you're all here!"

"Hi, Tachibana-sensei!" greeted the students.

One girl blinked at Naoko. "Do we have a new member?"

"Ooh, how exciting!" another girl said. She wore her hair in two purple drills that gave her an elegant, aristocratic air, though, judging by her behaviour, she wouldn't be able to pass off as even a plutocrat.

"Everyone, this is Naoko!" Tachibana introduced, having gotten her name from the club form. "Starting from today, she's one of us."

"Nice to meet you," Naoko said blandly, bowing. "Please take care of me."

"It's nice to meet you too," said the girl with the twin drills. "I'm Ayame! None of us here really like using formalities, so is it alright if we just call you Naoko?"

"It's fine."

Suddenly, what seemed to be a leafy ball of energy appeared next to Naoko. "Hi, hi! You can call me Midori! It means green!" She pointed to her head. "Like my hair! Isn't that cool?!"

Naoko sat down at the table next to Ayame, who smiled at her, and the flow of introductions continued. This... extrovert stuff wasn't really her thing but she could make it work. Thank god there weren't many members in this club.

"Shinji," a boy with a head full of shaggy dark lavender hair said, shaking Naoko's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Toshio," a blue haired boy that Naoko immediately pinpointed as a class representative based off the badge pinned to his uniform said. "Are you by any chance friends with Makoshima Tadashi? I see you outside his classroom a lot."

Naoko shifted in her seat to get a better look at the boy. "He's my brother," she said simply.

"Ah, I see. I'm the class representative of class 3-4, you see, and I was getting a bit concerned about Tadashi's lack of interaction with our classmates. Luckily, Oikawa seems to have warmed up considerably to him."

Naoko perked up. Oikawa, huh? But why? Why would Oikawa take an interest in him? In me?

Her train of thought was disturbed when a pair of twin tails appeared in her line of vision.

"Hi there!" a pink-haired girl greeted cheerfully. "I'm Katsumi. I'm looking forward to working with you." She elbowed a sullen looking girl with sandy brown hair. "Right, Leiko?"

"Shove off, Kat."

So there they were, in all their glory. A club made of a grand total of of six. Seven, including Naoko, and eight if one were to stretch it a lot to include Tachibana.

By the time introductions were over, Naoko felt as if the life had been sucked out of her. All she wanted to do at this point was take a nap.

"Not very talkative, are you?" Leiko said snidely. "What could have made you join this little ragtag team? Did you lose a bet or something?"

"This was the only choice I had left," answered Naoko, keeping her voice even.

Leiko smirked lazily. "Uh huh..."

"Cut if out, Leiko," Toshio scolded. "Don't antagonize people like that."

"I'm not antagonizing anyone, Toshio. Get that stick out of your ass already."

"Alright, everyone!" Tachibana interrupted before Leiko and Toshio's arguement could escalate. "Have you all been brainstorming ideas for the upcoming Culture Festival?"

"With all due respect, sensei," Leiko said, not sounding very respectful at all, "it's only June. We have plenty of time."

"So I take it that you were too lazy to think of anything?" Toshio jabbed.

"No. I just have better things to do with my time."

"Gods, you are so annoying. I swear, you only joined just to annoy people. You have major character problems, Leiko."

"And you are way too uptight for my taste, class rep," Leiko said mockingly. "What? You gonna tattle on me?"

"Hey, hey, enough," Ayame said, frowning. "We're not going to get anywhere if you two keep arguing. If you have personal issues, please take it somewhere else so you don't make anyone else uncomfortable."

She must be the leader or something, Naoko noted, observing the club members with a sharp eye. And Toshio's status as a class rep and a third year at that doesn't seem to matter around here either. Toshio grumbled and crossed his arms on the horseshoe shape table. He realizes this too and he's definitely not happy about it. And Leiko... she's just a bitch.

"I have an idea!" Midori, the green-haired girl, piped up, taking out her tablet. "I was thinking that we should do a pantomime."

"A pantomime?" Naoko parroted uncertainly. Was this some kind of drama jargon she wasn't getting?

"Don't you know what a pantomime is?" Leiko drawled, examining her nails. "Wow. You really are stupid."

"Considering I'm in class 2-5, I have to disagree," Naoko retorted. "As for you... there's a lot left to be desired. And I'm not even considering your brain yet."

"Book smarts will only get you so far, Naoko," Leiko tutted, giving her one of her lazy grins.

This time, it was Katsumi who stopped Leiko. "You're so salty, Lei! Be nice."

"Shut up, Kat."

Katsumi and Ayame are the only ones that Leiko even remotely listens to. It looks like that Katsumi is closer to Leiko than anyone else as well. What a weird friendship dynamic.

Midori continued talking like that little spat hadn't even happened. "I was thinking that we could go for a classic this year!"

Her voice is loud and a little irritating. She's the extroverted, creative type, I'm guessing.

"Cinderella?" Shinji read out. "Does that mean I have to wear a dress?"

Shinji's the quietest out of all of them. But what does he mean? Why would he have to wear a dress?

"In a pantomime, gender roles are normally reversed," Tachibana explained for Naoko's benefit. "It's for the humor effect."

"Right," said Naoko, wondering if this teacher was some sort of mind reader.

"That's so overdone," protested Leiko. "Can't you come up with anything better?"

"Can you?" Toshio sneered at her.

"Buzz off, hardass. I wasn't talking to you."

"It's overdone, but it's good," Ayame praised, giving Leiko and Toshio a hard look. "Thanks for your input Midori - "

"You're totally-dotally welcome!"

" - Does anyone else have anything to add?"

Katsumi tapped her chin. "Not me. I really like the idea of a Cinderella pantomime. Plus, it fits the cultural theme. It's just western culture, that's all. What do you think, Leiko?"

"What do I think?" Leiko smirked at Toshio, whose ears were burning red from anger. "I don't know Kat. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to have an opinion while the great class rep is here."

Toshio fumed. "Leiko - "

"Fight one more time and I'll kick both of you out," Ayame threatened. "Leiko, stop trying to rile Toshio up. Toshio, stop getting baited so easily. It's not a good look for a class representative."

"What about you, Naoko?" Katsumi turned to the ravenette. "What do you think?"

Naoko honestly didn't know what to think. "It's... interesting."

"Does that mean you're voting for it?" Midori asked excitedly.

"... Sure."

"Yay! Naoko's on my side!"

Naoko sighed. This was going to be a long afternoon.


"How was practice?" Naoko asked without looking up from her phone as she waited by the school gates, a shadow looming over her.

"Oh, it was great, Mako-chan! Thanks for asking."

Naoko looked up. "Oh. It's you." Then she went back to typing on her phone.

"Mako-chan~" He poked her cheek and she scowled, pushing his hand away.

"I've said many times; don't touch me," she said coldly. "You don't have enough friendship points for that."

"How many do I need then?"

"At least fifty."

"Damn." He stood closer to her. "Are you waiting for Dashi-chan?"

"Duh."

Oikawa leaned down, trying to capture her facial expression. "You seem more irritable than usual, Mako-chan."

"I was fine until you got here, dumb chihuahua."

"Wah! Mean, oyster-chan. I thought you enjoyed my company."

"Are you daft?"

At that moment, Tadashi appeared, sweat on his brow and lookin happier than ever. Naoko couldn't stop herself from staring at him.

"Ta... Tadashi." Immediately, she rushed over to him. "Are you okay?" She stood on her toes to look for any injury he might have. "Did... you panic?"

"Everybody treated me fine," Tadashi said softly. "They nearly found out about my eye but other than that, everything's fine."

"Okay... okay, good. Sumire said she's biking to Hamilton-san's so we'll meet her there."

"Hamilton-san?" Oikawa echoed, sidling up to them. "Is he a foreigner?"

"Yeah," Naoko answered. "And I'd appreciate it if you'd just let us go."

Thankfully, Oikawa did not object. "See you tomorrow then, Mako-chan!" And with that, he walked off.

Strange, Naoko thought, he said bye to me and not Tadashi.


Her phone dinged for what seemed like the millionth time. Chuckling, Sumire stopped her bike, pulled out the device, and checked her messages. Kageyama and Hinata were bantering again, as usual.

But then there was another ding and a message from her and Kageyama's private chat appeared. Curious, she opened it.


LINE: DUMBASS

[Kageyama]: hey dumbass

[Makoshima]: You called, dumbass?

[Kageyama]: do you want to go the arcade this evening? Dumbass Hinata wants you to come

[Makoshima]: I'll get back to you on that. I have an appointment right now and I'll have to ask Naoko

[Kageyama]: k

[Kageyama]: dumbass

[Makoshima]: stop talking to yourself dumbass

[Kageyama]: hypocrite


"Alexander Hamilton! Had a torrid affair, and he wrote it down right there. Highlights!"

Tadashi shifted uncomfortably in his seat as The Reynolds Pamphlet continued to play on the speakers. Dr. Hamilton was a huge fan of the musical and every time they entered his office, they would hear some sort of Hamilton song playing.

"Just ignore it," Naoko comforted, knowing how uncomfortable he must be to listen to a song about a man publishing a tell-all about his affair with another man's wife. It was a theme that hit a little too close to home.

"Hey." Sumire walked into the waiting room and sat next to Naoko, her hair slightly windblown. "Hamilton again?"

"Unfortunately," Naoko quipped.

"I heard that," a Caucasian man with sandy brown hair said as his office door swung open. "Thanks for waiting guys but try not to diss my musical taste behind my back.

"Good afternoon, Hamilton-san," Naoko said, smiling ever so slightly. "It would be better if none of us could understand English. Too bad English courses are more extensive than ever nowadays."

Hamilton nodded. "If you say so. Personally, I think it's great to be bilingual. Come in, guys, come in."

The door closed behind them, leaving only Hamilton music to fill the otherwise noiseless waiting room.


A/N: I couldn't help it. I love Hamilton too much to not include any references.

I'm going to list the members of the drama club below more for my own benefit.

Ayame

Midori

Katsumi

Leiko

Shinji

Toshio

Tachibana

Naoko