Rin looked over the notice board, content with her and her friends work so far.
"Okay, this is going pretty well guys, if I do say so myself." Rin admitted, walking over to the bed to take a seat next to Honoka and Hanayo who were chattering to each other while taking their break.
Honoka hummed in agreement. "I'd say, this is pretty complex. How did you get all of this information exactly?" Honoka asked.
Rin grabbed the ring of keys attached to her jeans and swung them around her finger.
"They seem to give representative's a lot of power for what we are. I have a key that get's in to the office, so I sneaked in after curfew and got all their school records." Rin said cheekily, causing Hanayo to gasp.
"Rin! You were lucky you didn't get caught!" Hanayo shook her head in disapproval, but Rin could tell the girl was still impressed with her.
"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure that in another life I am a ninja." Rin boasted, running a hand through her orange hair.
"Yeah right." Honoka rolled her eyes, causing Hanayo laugh.
Tap. Honoka's hands were tapping against the mattress.
Rin walked back over to the notice board and knelt down in front of it.
The six pictures of the six girls each took up a section of the board. Eli at the top, followed by Maki to the right, then followed again by Umi. At the bottom was Nozomi, to the left was Nico, and it finished it off with Nozomi.
Different colored strings represented the relationships between each and every girl. For example, a red string was connected between Eli and Kotori since they were currently dating.
Rin had done some more investigating too see if the kiss between the two had been more then just out of the blue, and had caught them going at it again behind the school after sharing some mushy lovey words. It made Rin want to puke, but she held back the temptation.
A black string was connected between the girls who didn't really have any sort of relationship between one another. For example, Nozomi and Maki never spoke to each other and were only connected to one another because of the people they associated with.
There were no strings that connected the main three parings: Nozomi and Eli, Kotori and Umi, and Maki and Nico. Rin didn't know anything about their relationships, so she couldn't make a good assumption.
Honoka and Hanayo knew nothing either, since they had joined the school after the six girls as well.
Rin knew for fact that the relationships didn't interlock with one another. Through Rin's observations, Nozomi didn't seem to have any problems with Umi and Maki, and even engaged them in conversation sometimes. It seemed like the problems only lied with the other person.
The track star rubbed her temples in thought, trying to not to get frustrated. She would figure out the relationship between these people later.
Everything she knew about each person was sprawled across their respective areas. Different notes and newspaper clippings were attached that had anything to do with the girls, even in the slightest.
Apparently Eli's father was the CEO of a electronics company that was extremely popular. He was also known for making multiple homophobic comments.
Did that make Eli homophobic? No of course not. She was eating Kotori's face just a few days ago.
The girl was expected to be the successor of the company, and apparently in the media's eyes the Rose Red representative was more than happy to take over, but Rin wasn't so sure. The media couldn't ever be one hundred percent trusted that's for sure.
Not much else was known about Eli, though she went to the same school as Nozomi before she transferred to Otonokizaka for her freshman year.
Which led Rin to Toujou Nozomi.
Her mother and father were businessmen that traveled around often, and that was all that was known about Nozomi, other then the fact that she went to the same school as Eli for the same time, except she left for Otonokizaka a year after Eli.
If the girl's mother and father traveled often, wouldn't they take Nozomi with them? But Nozomi had went to the same school as Eli for the same time period, so the girl must have stayed with a relative or something to still attend the school.
Rin was still confused. She assumed the girls were friends before they transferred, because clearly through their interactions they had some kind of history, but what was the blow out?
Rin also wasn't sure if Nozomi had followed Eli to Otonokizaka or if she had done it totally unintentionally. It seemed strange that if Nozomi had followed Eli that she would wait a whole year. Yet what were the chances that it had been unintentional?
Shaking her head, she decided to move her thoughts away from that train-wreck to move on to the next one.
Nishikino Maki, one of the most talent musicians to ever walk the face of the earth. Rin had only heard the girl play one time through the open windows of the Rose Red dorm, and had stayed just to listen.
And yet her parents, who were both doctors, expected the girl to follow in her footsteps and be the successor of the Nishikino Hospital. Some people were just unbelievable.
Her relationship with Nico was far different then the one between Eli and Nozomi's, at least, through the papers they were.
They both transferred to the school at the same time, and apparently at first at both chosen Rose Red for their flower divisions. In the middle of the year, Nico somehow was eligible to transfer over to the Lily White division. Rin wasn't sure why the girl had transferred, but it could be the result of a fallout between her and Maki.
Which meant that Rin was now thinking of Nico's situation.
Apparently the girl came from an average family in an average town. There was absolutely nothing unique about the girl, asides from her beautiful voice, and apparently she was also good at playing the violin.
The girl had entered a national television singing competition where she first got discovered. Though she hadn't won, since the judges said she was too young, she had been recruited to attend Otonokizaka and Maki had followed her, since she was also talented enough to get in as well.
Apparently she was also recruited to enter an all girl idol group, but for some reason she had completely disappeared from the media after that and the group had been formed without her.
This left Kotori and Umi.
They were childhood friends, Rin assumed, since there were records of all the schools they attended and they each went to the same one at the exact same time. It could have just been coincidence, but based on how often Umi stared at Kotori throughout the day, she could healthily assume that her assumptions were correct.
They even were neighbors for a long time before both girl's transferred to Otonokizaka when they were old enough to go. It made sense, Kotori was the principal's daughter, and Umi seemed to follow the girl wherever she went.
Kotori joined Lily White while Umi joined Rose Red. Rin wondered if that could be a result of a fall out, or maybe they just choose two different flower divisions, since it wouldn't make sense if they had somehow had a fight during the short time of joining Otonokizaka.
Or maybe they did. Rin couldn't know for sure.
"Rin, why are you so obsessed with these six anyways?" Honoka asked, hopping off of the bed to take a spot next to Rin.
Rin kept her eyes peeled on the notice board, barely acknowledging Honoka's presence.
"Because, if you mess with the leaders, the whole thing crumbles. And they are kind of making it easy, since they seem to all have a problem with one another. Once their 'followers' find out how screwed up the situations are, they'll want to switch to the Tulips." Rin explained.
"Okay, but I thought people couldn't leave their flower divisions." Hanayo reminded in confusion, still laying on Rin's bed.
"There's this rule, way back in the rule book that says that the representative is allowed to transfer to another flower division. If the representative does in fact transfer, all flowers in the division are presented the option to transfer as well." Rin recited, the rule not leaving her mind once.
Hanayo leaned up from the bed, resting on her elbows. "Okay, but Eli and Nozomi are the representative's, so what's going to make them want to transfer after we totally destroy their lives." Hanayo said bluntly. It was on purpose, though, since she wasn't so sure she agreed with Rin's plan.
"Now that's where we can go both ways. If we do meddle with their relationships, it can either go really well or really poorly. If it goes poorly, then we go with Plan A. Plan A is that Eli and Nozomi are relieved of their position and they vote up a new representative who will transfer to the Tulips. If somehow everybody wants to be friends again, which I'm not really expecting, then Plan B will start. If I can fix these peoples relationships, they'll be in debt to me, obviously. Of course, I'm no psychiatrist so I don't how that would happen." Rin mumbled the last part under her breath.
"Wow," Honoka yawned. It was getting late. "You've really thought this out, haven't ya?" Rin cracked a smile.
"Hell yeah. We're not getting anything from that poor excuse of a principal, so might as well take it into my own hands." Rin hadn't told Honoka and Hanayo about the whole ploy behind the school, but she did eventually tell all the Tulips that the talk with the principal hadn't gone too well. Rin stood up and stretched out, taking a big yawn as she walked over to her bed. "I'm tired. It's getting pretty late, so I'm going to have to kick you guys out." Rin said, grabbing Hanayo's hands and pulling her off the bed in one swift movement.
"Rin I could have gotten up myself you know." Hanayo pouted, rubbing her arms as she walked towards the door. Honoka was already there, her right hand on the handle.
"Okay Rin, we'll see you tomorrow!" Honoka bid farewell, slipping out of the door, dragging Hanayo with her.
"A-Ah! Goodbye Rin!" And the dynamic duo were gone.
Once Rin thought they were a far distance away, she grabbed her phone off of the desk and headed out the door. She jogged down the stairs, not worrying about attracting attention since all her Tulips were heavy sleepers.
The track star was surprised on how fast the weeks had passed, and now it was November. Unfortunately exams were tomorrow, and Rin hadn't really studied since she was focused on the whole ENMNUK plan-the name was all the girls names-for the past week.
Rin sighed in relief when she saw that Nozomi was still standing outside of the Lily White dorm. The girl must have been out for a whole hour at this point, Rin had first seen her outside of her room window.
"She'll be out there a little longer if she's already been out this long." Rin mumbled under her breath. Nozomi was sitting on a bench a few feet away from the Lily White entrance, and the girl was sobbing lightly, so Rin took the opportunity to sneak into the Lily White dorm. This was the perfect opportunity to sneak into the Lilies representative's dorm room and do a little snooping.
Amai Fruits dance dandan rizumi kawaru
Isoide yo
Ne watashi no koto o mitete
Tsukamaenakucha furimukanai wa
Oikake raretai
Dakedo iwanai dakedo ienai
Nozomi's reaction had been interesting.
Rin first told Nozomi that the girl could not by any means tell anybody that Rin showed her the picture, and Nozomi swore not too. Rin wasn't so sure if this was too reliable or not, but she was pretty sure if her name did get thrown out, it wouldn't be too bad since Nozomi is probably going to be at Kotori's, or Eli's, throat.
She then opened up the camera roll and showed Nozomi the picture. Nozomi's eyes had widened for a split second, before her usual look adorned her face. She then asked Rin if she could get a closer look, so in turn the track star handed the girl the phone.
Rin noticed that Nozomi thought at first it was fake, but after a closer glance, Rin could see that the regular cool, calm, and collected girl was starting to crumble. Her eyes became glossy, and her fingers tightened around the track stars phone.
"Thank you for this, Hoshizora-san. I had my suspicions." The words seemed forced, but Rin didn't regret showing the girl the picture at all. This was all part of the plan.
"No problem. Now, I hope I can get some information from you." Rin said, taking a spot on the bench next to Nozomi.
Rin could tell the violet girl wanted nothing to do with Rin at the moment, but she forced a smile and nodded.
"Okay, what do you want?" Nozomi asked, clearly holding back a sob, or at least a river of tears, and Rin held back a smirk from this.
Sure, inside Rin felt horrible about what she was doing. But it had to be done, it had to be done.
"I want you to tell me everything you know about Yazawa Nico and her relationship with Nishikino Maki." Nozomi gasped at the question, standing up from the bench, nearly spilling her hot chocolate out of the mug.
"Why would I tell you that?" Nozomi growled. Rin could tell the girl was attempting to take out her anger on the track star, but she had expected this as well, and merely raised an eyebrow.
"Why? Well maybe because we made a deal, that you agreed to." Rin reminded, whistling afterwards. This aggravated the violet haired girl further who took a step towards Rin, her foot sinking into the snow.
"There's no way..." Nozomi paused. Rin assumed it was for dramatic effect. "There's no way in hell that I would tell you anything about Nico-chi without her permission. Who the hell do you think you are?" Nozomi barked. This statement caused Rin to laugh.
"I don't know. I'm a track star, a Hoshizora, maybe I'm a god. It doesn't matter who I am, all that matters is that you will be telling me what you know about Yazawa." Rin spoke more sternly this time, taking a step forward to meet Nozomi in a heated gaze.
Nozomi crossed her hands, tapping her foot against the snow in defiance.
"And how do you think you're going to make me talk? You're just a Tulip, you have no power." Nozomi spat, reminding Rin of her god awful position.
Rin laughed again, this time starting small, and then escalating into a loud obnoxious laugh that faded into the snowy winds.
"I have no power? I have no power?! Take a look at this, why don't you?" Rin challenged, grabbing a letter from the inside of the coat pocket she was wearing. She dangled the envelope in front of Nozomi's eyes, her smile crooked. "Do you recognize this, Nozomi?"
Nozomi gasped for the second time, her hands clamping over her mouth as she looked at the letter in surprise and fear.
"H-How did you get that you bastard?!" Nozomi screamed, eliciting another dark laugh from Rin.
"Easy. You sat out here for an hour crying about your hard knock life while I snuck into your room." Rin explained, swinging the note back and forth and back and forth.
Nozomi tried to grab it, but Rin quickly moved it back.
"Ah-ah-ah, you're not getting this back until you spill about your good old friend Nico-chi."
"Don't call her that!" Nozomi yelled, trying again to grab the letter, but to no avail.
"How does it feel, to not have any power for the first time in a long time?" Rin wondered, speaking in a teasing tone as she held the letter above her head. "I wonder, I wonder what it is like?" She repeated, raising her free hand to her chin in fake thought.
Nozomi swallowed a sob, tears trickling down her face. Rin hadn't expected to see this side of Nozomi. Defeated, humiliated, and Rin almost wanted to wrap her hands around the girl. Almost.
"Please...Please Rin, give it back." Nozomi begged, tears free falling from her chin to the snow, making a light patter every time they hit the snow.
Rin shook her head.
"You'll get this back when I give it to you. Now, if you don't tell me about Yazawa and Nishikino, and you better tell me everything you know, I will make as many photocopies as I would like and post them around the school. Everybody will now how awful of a person Nozomi is." Rin laughed again. The note contents seemed to be a letter from Eli to Nozomi, telling the girl about how awful she was and all the bad things she had done or some stupid shit like that. Rin wasn't really sure, but she knew if the note got out it would be hell for Nozomi and Eli. Everybody would be asking about it, that's just how people were, always feeding for information.
And by Nozomi's expression, she did not want to deal with that.
Nozomi slumped down onto the ground, breaking out into tears as she nodded her head violently.
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you everything I know. I'll tell you. Just please, don't do anything with the letter."
Maki watched from the sidelines, book in hand. She was pretending to be reading the book with disinterest, but couldn't stop her eyes from flickering up every once in a while to Nico.
The girl was definitely in her comfort zone with the seven other girls. They were currently going over steps for a practice routine too see if the girls would make it as a idol group.
The redhead should have been happy. Nico was having so much fun, laughing and singing with the other girls who were just like her, talented and prepared to take their futures by storm.
But Maki... wasn't.
If this idol group did end up forming, Nico would be leaving Otonokizaka at the end of the year to go on tour, leaving Maki alone.
And Maki didn't want to be alone.
So the pianist watched her best friend slip away.
And after a month of waiting, the group had been decided. Nico had made it through.
The girl had been so excited. She was crying with joy and ran around the campus gleefully, not caring who was looking at her. Of course, Maki had to follow awkwardly, trying to tame her friend who was clearly scaring the other students.
"Nico, calm down!" But her voice came upon deaf ears as Nico sang happily. It felt like a cheesy scene from a god awful kids movie, but it was nice. Maki had to admit it was nice.
But it was also bittersweet.
Nico would, for sure, be leaving at the end of the year to be educated along with her new idol members on the rode. It was an odd situation, but that what was happening.
But what bothered Maki the most was the fact that Nico didn't really seem to care.
Nico hadn't mentioned once her leaving of the school. Her leaving Maki behind. She just ignored, pretending it wasn't happening as if it was supposed to make Maki believe it to.
But Maki wasn't naive. Nico was.
So it was at a shopping trip at the mall that Maki did something that she would surely regret for the rest of her life.
It had been spur of the moment. Nico had been happily chatting about the tour and all the songs they were going to say, and Maki was trying to keep herself from lashing out at her friend.
They were approaching the stairs to the bottom level, and Maki had accidentally tripped on her shoe.
She was able to catch herself, but in the split second she noticed that she had fallen towards Nico, and this could be the perfect opportunity to shove Nico without it looking like Maki had done it on purpose.
But why the hell would she do that?
She may have not wanted Nico to leave, but she wasn't crazy. Right...? Of course not, Maki was just as sane as anybody else.
So then why did she follow through with her awful, awful plan?
The sobs of Nico at the bottom of the stairs brought Maki back to life as she saw her friend at the bottom of the stairs.
The redhead's eyes widened at the sight as she immediately regretted her move. A horrible feeling pumped through her veins as she felt herself getting colder and colder.
Nico's body didn't look natural. Her left leg was bent in a way that Maki had to avert her eyes to stop herself from hurling. Maki wasn't sure if there was something wrong with Nico's arms or not since she had looked away so quickly.
"Somebody call 9-1-1!" A good Samaritan had yelled.
Maki had sat with Nico through her sobs. The group had ultimately been formed without Nico. Stardom doesn't wait, unfortunately. This made Maki feel even worse.
"How could this happen?" Nico mumbled through her cries, and Maki felt her eyes get glossy as an unnatural, unbearable feeling formed in the pit of her stomach, slowly branching out like some type of virus.
"I don't know." Maki squeaked out. Lies, was all that she could think. You're a dirty liar.
"You're lying." Nico had said at first, still sitting in the hospital bed. Everything was white. White walls, white floors, white beds. It was all the same, and Nico had spent days in here while Maki was only there for a few moments.
All Maki could do was shake her head, tears flowing down her cheeks as she felt relief fill her body as she finally confessed. Quickly followed by the most pure, raw fear that she could ever feel.
"YOU'RE LYING! RIGHT MAKI?"
Nico got new friends.
It was the Nozomi girl and her friend Kotori.
Maki had no idea how Nico was able to transfer to another flower division, but she did, and now Maki sat alone at the lunch tables.
Nico seemed to be happy on the outside. She was talking vividly to Kotori, using big hand motions and there was an excited gleam in her eyes. She could also see that Nozomi started talking, and then immediately afterwards a scowl appeared on Nico's face.
Maki smiled, but then it faltered afterwards.
That should be me. But it's all my fault.
Suddenly two girls sat down across from her. Maki looked up at them, surprised that somebody had come join her after the weeks of being alone.
"Screw up?" Was all Ayase Eli said as she began to indulge in her meal, her eyes still peeled on Maki.
"What? What do you guys want?" Maki asked disinterestedly, twirling one of her red locks as she averted her eyes. She didn't need these people reminding her of her mistakes.
"We did to." Umi spoke this time, taking a spoonful of hot soup. Maki watched as the steam rose from the bowl enticingly. "But we can't fix our mistakes. Maybe you can."
The blue haired girl and the blond sat with her everyday, until somehow they had become Maki's best friends. The redhead wasn't sure how it happened, but truthfully, she was so happy it did. She was getting really, really lonely.
Eli and Umi had helped her with her plan. They visited Tsubasa, the girl who had started the idol group, and pleaded that she gave Nico a second chance.
Every week the girl turned them down, but they were always back the next, coming up with new cases for the girl in a hopes that Tsubasa would finally see the light.
At last, she did. At last.
Maki stood outside of the Lily White dorm, Eli and Umi behind her.
"Okay, you got this Maki! This is going to be amazing." Umi said excitedly, before she cleared her throat and blushed, surprised by her actions. "U-U-Uh, I mean..." Eli cut her off.
"She'll be so happy and you'll win her back in no time." Eli said, patting Maki on the back. Maki smiled gratefully at her friends, telling them she'd be back soon enough, and then she entered the Lily dorm.
It was a little late, but before curfew. A few Lilies gave her funny looks, since she really wasn't supposed to be there, but she brushed them off as she walked expertly through the dorm. She had been to Nico's room thousands of times, she hadn't forgotten now.
She took a deep breath as she stood in front of the black haired girl's dorm. Exhaling slowly, Maki worked up all of her courage and knocked on the door.
Nothing went according to plan. Nothing went according to plan.
Maki had to repeat it for emphasis on how the plan did not go well.
And now she was sobbing outside of the Lily dorm into somebody's shoulder-she didn't know if it was Umi or Eli since she had just grabbed someone randomly-and they were trying their best to comfort her.
"This is bullshit." Eli swore, rubbing small circles on Maki's back. "We work for weeks to get her a solo album, I repeat a solo album, and she takes it but still doesn't forgive you? Who the hell does that?" Eli growled.
"Someone whose fucking insane that's who." Umi did not swear often, actually Umi didn't swear at all, but Maki knew that the girl was beyond pissed at this point.
"I-I-It's n-n-not y-your fault g-guys." Maki stuttered out, still sobbing.
"It's not your fault either, Maki." Eli cooed softly. "It's nobody's. You are a strong person for not lashing out at her, and I am so thankful that I sat at your table that day." Maki nodded, taking her head away from Umi's-it ended up being the blue haired girls-shoulder.
"I love you g-guys." Maki said silently as Umi worked to get the tears off of the redhead's face.
"We love you too." Umi said, smiling at the girl, Eli sitting next to her.
"Interesting, interesting." Rin said, walking circles around Nozomi who was still crying in the snow. "So what's your take on this? Do you think Nico should have forgiven the girl or not?" Rin asked, tapping thoughtfully on her chair.
"Why do you care you bitch?!" Nozomi cried out. She was no longer sobbing, but tears were trickling down her face.
"Whoa, no need to get fiery. I was just wondering. I can tell I've put you through enough though." Rin ended softly. She knew there was no way to explain her actions to Nozomi, who probably thought she was bat-shit crazy at that point, and knew the violet girl would never like her.
But Rin was okay with that.
"Can I please have the letter?" Nozomi asked, standing up from her spot on the ground. Rin shook her head.
"Nope, I'll be taking this. But I promise I won't be doing anything with it." Rin swore, placing her hand over her heart.
"How am I supposed to trust you?" Nozomi barked. A harsh wind blew through the area, the girls hair flowing in the wind, and Rin watched at Nozomi wrapped her arms around herself to keep cool.
Rin sighed, stripping of her scarf as she stepped towards the girl, surprised when the violet haired girl let her wrap the scarf around her neck.
"I would never do that to you." Rin spoke, for some reason feeling oddly sentimental as she looked into the eyes of the girl she just humiliated. "I'm sorry for falling to such drastic measures. Here," Rin tucked the envelope into Nozomi's hand. What am I doing? This is not a part of the plan. I need something against her so she won't rat me out! "You deserve this."
The two girl looked each other in the eyes, nobody moving. Rin could feel Nozomi's hot breath, tickling her face. The wind continued to blow, but nobody made a move to do anything.
Rin was even more surprised when Nozomi made no move to stop Rin from wiping off the violet haired girls tears.
"I know you probably hate me now. I know you probably think I'm a bad person. But please, please," Rin paused. "Don't think I did this with the intention of humiliating your or bullying you. I'm merely doing this for one reason." Rin said, leaning closer to the girl. Rin paused for a moment, thinking about what she was doing, before she continued with her plan and softly kissed Nozomi's forehead.
"W-What is that?" Nozomi stuttered out. Rin could tell the girl was emotionally overwhelmed, and couldn't deal with the situation properly.
"To bring Tulips to justice." Rin finished, turning around and walking away from the girl. "Keep the scarf." And with those final words, the girl was gone.
Nozomi stood in the snow, her hand resting on her forehead where Rin had kissed her. How had the girl had such power over her? Nozomi wasn't sure. The track star had completely humiliated and embarrassment, cleaned her of all of her secrets, but yet had come off as this great person at the end who was deeply sorry for her actions.
Nozomi had even let her kiss her.
The Lily White representative felt her cheeks flush. It had been nice, she hadn't been kissed in a long time.
That flush immediately disappeared.
Kotori had kissed Eli.
Kotori had kissed Eli.
Kotori had kissed Eli.
RIN IS A SATANIC BITCH WHO CAN STILL MAKE THE LADIES FALL FOR HER. HUH. THAT TAKES SKILL.
Anyways, I better clarify this now before anybody gets the wrong idea. Just because Rin kissed Nozomi on the forehead does not mean their in love. Lol some people get that idea for some reason so I just better mention that there is absolutely no romantic feelings between the two.
And now things are being spiced up dramatically. Nozomi knows that Kotori kissed Eli, Rin knows about Nozomi and Eli's past and Nico and Maki's past, so all she has left is Kotori and Umi before she traps them all.
Well, Rin doesn't know everything about Nozomi and Eli's past. So her next POV is her working on that.
And finally a Maki POV. It was just for a flashback, but I thought I owed it to everybody. Plus I wanted to write in her point of view, come on, it's Maki.
Shit is going down, and Christmas is still coming.
That's right bitches Christmas is coming.
Anyways thanks to everyone who reviewed. That being Jun Sakamato, JayxNitro, a Guest, good ol' Camay, a few from BlackHawk-thanks a bunch for that :D-and a new one from MaryLoves! Thanks for giving this story a read!
Thank you everyone for Reviews and Follows/Favorite. They are all very much appreaciated. The next POV will be...uh...Eli...? I think it'll be Eli. Yeah. Yeah it'll probably be Eli. Oh, and if we hit 30 reviews or 30 follows it'll be a double upload tomorrow! Acutually it will probably be a double upload either way lol :P orz
