Summary: Konomi Ritsu was one of the luckiest girls in Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku; she felt no infatuation towards the tennis regulars. However, many of her close friends, ever since meeting the regulars, had instantly been "in love". Unfortunately, they were always rejected of their confessions and who else can Konomi be, than that of a heart-fixer?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Prince of Tennis characters.

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It was a sunny Tuesday when Konomi entered her classroom with a cheery attitude that clearly matched the clear weather. She had gone along with Naomi, Kiseki, and Aeha to the hospital - only to (unfortunately) leave. Konomi must admit, she was quite nervous about visiting the hospital but had felt disappointed when the nurses had told them that the patients were resting by the time they arrived.

Gently, she set her bag down on the table and sat down only to be frightened by Marui Bunta, who had come up from behind and shook her by the shoulders.

"Marui-kun!" Konomi cried out, holding her chest in shock.

He raised an eyebrow and blew a large apple green bubble. "I didn't think you'd be frightened that easily." Marui took a seat next to her while grinning wolfishly, his eyes tracing her every movement. It wasn't a moment later until Konomi realized this and she scowled.

"That makes me uncomfortable." She assertively stated, crossing her arms while pointing at his apple-green smelling face.

Marui's smile grew even wider. "Eh? Look who's confident now. Haha. It must be my tensai influence. Isn't it, Konomi? Isn't it?"

"Why are you so confident about being a genius, Marui-kun?" Konomi asked curiously, looking around to make sure her old friends were not here to witness such atrocious interaction between her and their beloved tennis regular.

Bunta's smile melted into a childish frown. "Are you suggesting that I'm not?" His eyes widened, trying to fake tears as he held his chest to mock pain.

"Eh! No, no. I didn't mean that at all!" Konomi hysterically answered, stupidly flailing her arms in front of her face, scared that she might have actually hurt his feelings. In the end, she supposed it was just one of her habits that she won't be able to get rid of.

Marui actually laughed out loud, smacking the table in amusement. He gave her a trademark wide smile and replied, "Well, to prove the fact that I am most certainly a tensai and to compensate for hurting my feelings - I will have to teach you some tennis, Nomi-chan."

"...Nomi..chan?" Konomi repeated hesitantly, blushing. Never once has anyone given that nickname to her, not even her parents nor her sister and definitely not her friends. She tried to hide her red cheeks by looking down on the desk, even though she couldn't help but smile at how adorable he had said it.

Marui instantly stopped chuckling. "Did that offend you?" He tried to move his head, so that he could see her face from below but she instinctively averted his gaze and shook the blushing out of her cheeks, although the red was still definitely noticeable.

"Oh, no. It's just that...I wasn't really...expecting that..." She mumbled, clasping her hands under her desk and refusing to look up. Konomi looked to the opposite direction of where he was, trying her hardest to avoid his wide childlike eyes.

Marui, realizing that he had embarrassed her most proficiently, turned to the front of the room and stretched his slightly muscular tennis arms. "So, may the resident tensai teach you some tennis?"

"But, don't you have club practice after school?" Konomi questioned, knowing that the answer was most likely yes. She finally looked up, relieved that he wasn't staring at her anymore.

Marui blinked and replied bluntly, "No." Instantly, Konomi knew he wasn't telling the truth. She raised a skeptic eyebrow and narrowed her eyes as he turned to look at her and give her a questioning glance.

"Are you lying to me?" She asked him just as bluntly as he had answered her. Konomi narrowed her eyes even more as he blinked innocently and crossed his own arms.

He met her narrowed eyes with narrowed ones of his own. "No." He pouted.

"Marui Bun - " Konomi started to say but she was interrupted by a loud sigh emanating from the childish tennis "tensai" next to her.

He dropped his glare and his arms. "Fine, we do have practice. But we barely got to talk yesterday and now you won't let me teach you tennis. Is there another tensai you're seeing?" Marui reverted back his glare and his crossed arms, as if to stare deep into the darkest parts of her soul.

"I'm not and I won't be seeing any tensai." Konomi retorted pointedly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes and to blush all at the same time.

Marui chuckled. "I wouldn't be to sure about that." He stood up from the desk he was sitting and ruffled her perfectly brushed hair like an owner would pet his dog. Bunta made his way smoothly into his own seat before the fangirls came strutting in and presenting him with their daily gifts of hand-made treats and beautifully-wrapped presents.

As Konomi watched in amusement, as other boys who shared the same class stared in jealousy and as the fangirls shoved and pushed to be the next in line to give "Marui-sama" her own present. As a fangirl tripped over the nearby leg of a desk, and others turned to look in worry - Marui managed to swiftly turn his head towards Konomi and give her a quick wink before the fangirls realized.

"Hm. If you ask me, there is definitely something going on with you and that boy." Tanaka's amused voice reached Konomi's ears as the blushing third year looked up at her friend, who was grinning slyly.

Konomi averted her gaze. "There's nothing." She bluntly answered, crossing her arms in disagreement as both Kiseki and Ranawa entered the room, took one ritual glance at the fawning fangirls, then made their way into their seats while chuckling softly to themselves.

"If those fangirls finds out about you and Marui - we're gonna have to resort to protecting you, Konomi." Ranawa stated, dropping her bag onto her desk while leaning against the table, still chuckling.

Konomi pouted. "Mou...I thought we've already established that our relationship is purely platonic, and not at all romantic." She again, in a sad attempt, tried to hide her reddening cheeks which have already received enough abuse from Marui earlier that morning.

"Why don't you say that to his face, if you're so certain?" Kiseki teasingly replied, taking her own seat and began preparing the materials needed for first period. She brushed a few hanging strands of her bangs away from her face as she took out her pencil pouch and a few pieces of lined paper.

Konomi blushed while Tanaka chuckled as she patted the reddening girl reassuringly on the back. Ranawa merely smiled pitifully as she sat on her own desk, and began preparing her materials as well. Tanaka, who had been leaning against her own table, looked down on Konomi, "I'd better be careful, just in case."

Tanaka sat down on her own seat, as more students filed in. The clocked ticked down onto the start of school, and every student quieted down as their teacher entered - a stern expression upon his face. The fangirls immediately returned to their respective seats as those who were supposed to be in another class quickly fled to their own classrooms before their teachers finds them late.

"Alright, class. Today - we will be going into the music room to learn about decrescendos and crescendos." The class responded with a united groan, as they shifted in their seats uncomfortable and some lazily slammed their heads onto their desks while others rolled their eyes in annoyance.

The teacher merely grinned with a sadistic satisfaction.


"Konomi-chan!" was the first thing Konomi heard as she was about to walk out of the school's main gates. She immediately turned around, only to be met with a face-full of green apple bubblegum and red hair. Marui Bunta was casually carrying his tennis bag swung around his shoulder and a wide grin was spread upon his childish third year face.

Konomi slightly frowned. "I thought you had tennis practice." She narrowed her eyes at him and glared at him threateningly. He merely answered her with an innocent look and an even wider grin.

"I already said I was going to teach you tennis today." He took her hand and immediately began leading her into a part of Kanagawa that Konomi had never dared go into. Even though she was skilled at reading maps and directions, she was always threatened by the notion of being lost all by herself with no way back home. When she heard the sounds of loud tennis balls crashing onto solid pavement, Konomi realized that Marui had taken her to separate tennis courts away from Rikkaidai's.

As he led her up the stairs heading towards the main courts, Konomi shook her head along with her arms. "I'm gonna embarass myself, Marui-kun!" She cried out, covering her face as he set his bag down and they faced a solid wall.

"Why are you so conscientious?" He questioned her, resting a hand on his hip and leaning towards her with a curious stare - his eyes staring deeply into hers. Konomi felt the rush of blood come up to her face, and averted her glance. "I promise, no one will see you practicing." He added, trying to convince her as he took out a racket from his bag and gripped it carefully.

Konomi sighed. There was no point fighting a losing battle. She watched him carefully as he placed the racket into her hands. She looked at it as if she was holding a bomb, and her hands started shaking as the thought processed into her brain.

"A-ano..." She started saying, but he had already interrupted her. Marui sided himself alongside her and said instructively, "You have to hold it as if you were going to shake hands, okay?" Konomi knew she had already done that wrong when he grinned and took her right hand and began correcting her grip.

Marui then proceeded to take out a tennis ball from his bag and began bouncing it up and down. "Alright. Let's see if you can hit." He handed her the ball and gestured for her to throw it in the air and hit it. Much to the poor girl's embarassment, she only hit air and the ball rolled over pathetically, as if mocking her lack of sportiness. Trying to hide her reddening cheeks as Bunta started chuckling, Konomi tried to hand him back his racket but he shook his head in reply.

"First try, no foul. Here, let me show you." He bent down to pick up the ball and made sure her grip wasn't loosening. He bounced the ball multiple times as he placed his right hand above hers and then tossed the tennis ball up in the air. Konomi looked up by instinct right when Marui gripped his hand over hers and hit the ball right on the wall, leaving a slight dark spot.

From her shoulder, Konomi could feel Bunta's slight breathing and was suddenly aware of their close proximity. She looked down to see if his hand was still on hers, and blushed when she realized that it was. He let the ball roll down a few feet before grinning from Konomi's shoulder and said, "See? That wasn't so bad now, was it?"

"That's only because, technically, you were the one who hit it." Konomi mumbled, loosening her tight shoulders as she let her bangs fall into her face. He looked down from her shoulder and replied, "Alright, fine. I'll let you hit it this time."

Konomi nodded in agreement as he picked up the ball and handed it to her. She was just about to toss it when she realized his hand was still on hers. Konomi looked up at the tennis "tensai" and said, "I thought you were going to let me hit it."

"I am." He simply replied, not even blinking. His grip on her hand still had not loosened. Konomi looked down on their hands to make sure.

She frowned slightly and questioned, "So why are you still holding my hand?"

"Because I like holding your hand." Marui shrugged, as if that was the easiest question she could have possibly asked. Konomi could have blushed right there and then but merely smiled a small closed smile.

She tossed the ball in the air and hit the wall successfully, just a few inches away from the first spot that Marui had hit. "Eh! Marui-kun, did you see that? I almost hit in the same spot!" Konomi jumped up and down in excitement, then blushed as he let go of her hand and stared at her with a raised eyebrow. Immediately, she tossed her head in the opposite direction and apologized. She was answered by a short laugh.

"You're really cute, Nomi-chan." Marui said, stepping close to her - a smile was spread evenly on his adorable face. By instinct, Konomi backed away and loosened her grip on his racket. She wasn't really quite sure how to react or how to respond.

Instead, she backed away a few more steps and replied with an unsure, "...Thank you..?" He had probably observed the nervousness in her voice, but had chosen to ignore it because he had taken a few more steps closer to her. Konomi backed into the wall as he looked down on her, smiling. She could feel his uneven breathing from above but did not dare look up.

"Are you...nervous?" He asked, trapping her as his two hands placed themselves on each side of her, touching the wall. Marui lowered his head, meeting his gaze and his breathing meeting her own.

Konomi nodded slightly, as she hesitantly looked up. She pressed her hands up his chest and contemplated pushing him away, but did not find the will to do it as his strangely-colored eyes met her normal ones. His hands moved from the wall and wrapped themselves around her tiny waist as he pulled her closer to him. He gave her a casual smile, as if they were still at school, sitting on their desks - talking at ease.

"Marui-kun, I don't under - !" Konomi whispered but got cut off as Marui crashed his lips softly against hers, pulling her to him so close that they weren't even an inch apart. She stood frozen but the feel of him giving her soft light kisses instantly took over and she let her hands go up around his neck and thread lightly through his soft red hair. Konomi closed her eyes as she felt Marui lightly smile against her lips and began pulling her into another kiss.

This time, he unwrapped his arms around her and cupped her face, slightly tipping it upwards as he deepened the kiss. The smell of his fresh minty apple-bubblegum wafted through her own mouth. As soon as Marui's tongue left his mouth to lick her lips, Konomi immediately pulled away. She wasn't just confused with him, she was confused with herself. Didn't she tell her friends just this morning, that her relationship with Marui was everything but romantic? That it was merely platonic?

So why did she let him kiss her? And moreover, why did she kiss him back? She wanted to cradle her head in her arms and cry out in frustration.

"What...just happened?" She breathlessly asked, pushing her hair out of her face.

Marui smiled. "So you like me too." He pocketed his hands casually, as he leaned in one more time but she quickly stepped aside. Konomi shook her head in confusion as she ran a hand through her hair. "I...I thought we were friends, Marui-kun." She looked up at him as he tipped his head sideways, as if confused as well.

"Maybe I wanted to be more than friends." He looked down on the ground, his eyes now heavily-lidded.

Konomi sighed, then quickly swung her backpack around her shoulders and replied, "I...I don't...I don't...I'm sorry...I...I have to go." She fled through the main entrance and quickly ran towards the familiar street that he had led her through. From behind her, she could hear his heavy footsteps running after her and she tried to swiftly ran ahead of him but his tennis training had given him the advantage in this wild goose chase.

He grabbed her wrist before she could flee another step and pulled her close to him, his arms wrapping themselves tightly around her waist. "If you don't have the same feelings, then why did you kiss me back?" Marui questioned her, his eyes delving into hers uncomfortably.

"It was my first kiss - what did you expect?" Konomi answered, crying out while trying to push him away but her attempts ended in vain.

His eyes dropped onto the ground. "That wasn't your first kiss." He whispered softly, his minty breath wafting through her nose again.

"Yes, it was." She responded firmly, crossing her arms.

He stared at her. "Remember? The start of junior high. Class B. Remember?"


It was just a few weeks since the start of the school year, and already Konomi was bored out of her own mind. Her fellow girl classmates merely cared for make-up, the latest fashion trends, and the recently debuted handsome boy idols. During lunchtime, nobody had sat next to her but Konomi didn't mind. She found silence a much easier topic to handle rather than any genetic school girl obsession.

In turn, Konomi left the classroom to find a shady place to sit in for the next hour or so. She found a comfortable space in an area just perfectly shaded by the tall slender trees that inhabited the outskirts of Rikkaidai's school grounds. She was about to take out her notebook to write in detail how perfectly calm and relaxing her secret spot was, but was interrupted by the rustling of leaves and the loud cries of a redheaded boy whom she recognized as Marui Bunta.

He had inevitably fallen from his tree-hiding spot when he had tried to see who it was that had invaded his personal private property. Konomi knew him as a cocky arrogant red-headed prick whom the girls found irresistibly adorable especially when he would eat their hand-made treats during his tennis matches in elementary school. Immediately, she scowled. If there anything more irritating than adoring fangirls, it would be the cocky red-headed prick who had initiated the fangirling in the first place.

"Eh? Aren't you Ritsu-san?" He pointed at her frowning face in childishness.

Konomi's scowl grew deeper. "Yes, it is. Now could you please leave, I'm trying to write."

"Eh? EH? Can I read your other entries? Please oh pretty please. I really wanna read it." He jumped up and down, smiling why eying and targeting the notebook she was holding firmly under one arm.

Konomi glared at him while trying to keep the notebook away from his grasp. "No. You keep away from this notebook." She said firmly.

"Oh! I know! In exchange for one entry, I'll give you a kiss!" Marui smiled at his supposedly-genius-like idea and pulled her over to him and gave her a soft chaste kiss right on her virgin lips.

Konomi's eyes widened in anger. "You stupid boy, Marui Bunta! UGH. DISGUSTING!" She stomped away, trying to rub the feel of his lips away from hers. He could hear her angrily walking away, kicking innocent victimized clumps of grass on her way back to her classroom - hoping that he would not follow her.


Konomi couldn't help but blush at the memory, as the realization hit her as hard as a stone. However, instead of admitting to it - she merely objected to it, "That was two years ago! It doesn't count."

His arms slacked their grip from her waist, but they remained around her. "You know it does. I was your first kiss, and I intend to be your last." He gave her the same ambitious grin as he did from two years ago.

"You befriended me because you said you needed my help with my former friends!" She pointed at his face rudely, trying to make him feel a bit ounce of guilt for deceiving her. Konomi believed that he had truly wanted to be friends with her, not to date her.

Marui pocketed his hands, his tennis bag slacking from his shoulder. "I did wanted to be friends with you. Seriously. That was my first real intention. But it's not my fault I started falling for you halfway through being your friend." He replied bluntly, shrugging his shoulders casually.

"Why are you so confusing?" Konomi stamped her feet in frustration, clenching her jaw in annoyance.

Marui scowled. "Confusing? You can't ask me that! You're the one who can't admit that you like me back! Even though it's so obvious that you do!"

"Why are you so arrogant?" She tried to stomp on his feet but he swiftly side-stepped away.

Marui grinned, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. "Why are you so adorable when you're angry?" It took moments for the response to trigger a reaction in Konomi's brain. She tried to answer back, but she merely turned around and started walking to her house.

"That's it! If you don't wanna be my friend anymore, FINE." She crossed her arms in anger as she continued walking in a quick pace.

Marui caught up to her and yelled out, "I do wanna be your friend. Your BOY-friend!" Other people were now staring at them curiously from their bedroom windows and the other side of the sidewalk. Konomi merely ignored him, puffing her cheeks huffily and continued walking swiftly.

"I love you, Ritsu-san. I really truly do." He told her in a desperate manner.

Konomi turned around. "Ritsu-san...?"

"Ritsu-san! RITSU-SAN!" A loud echoeing voice boomed from out of nowhere. Konomi looked around confused as Marui Bunta, the people, the surrounding scenery dissapeared and melted into a cold nothingness.

A darkness swept her and Konomi awoke to the sounds of her chuckling classmates and an angry teacher.


Konomi didn't know what was more embarassing - the fact that she had slept through the first lesson of the day or the fact that she had dreamed about Marui Bunta teaching her about tennis and kissing her. The lunch bell had just rung when Konomi tried to slap herself for being so stupid, so delusional. Even on her lips, the memory of his kiss remained.

But...why...Why was that "memory" from her first year of junior high seemed so familiar? Quickly, the memory dissolved as Tanaka, Kiseki, and Ranawa surrounded her. An amused expression was upon Tanaka's face, while a worried one was on Kiseki's. Ranawa's face wore her simple calculative facade that she wanted her other classmates to believe as superior and stoic. Or so Tanaka says.

"It's not like you to fall asleep in class, Konomi-chan." Kiseki raised the back of her hand to Konomi's forehead to check if she had some sort of a fever. Konomi smiled pathetically and sighed. "I apologize for worrying you, but I'm really fine. I guess I just got sleepy."

"It happens to everyone at least once." Tanaka patted her reassuringly, as she took out her lunch from her bag just as Konomi was getting hers out as well.

Ranawa smiled sympathetically. "She's right. Don't worry too much about what our classmates will say. Ne, so will you walk with us to the school gardens?"

"Um...I'll follow you afterwards. I have to talk to someone." Konomi shook her head, smiling as the other three nodded their heads uncertainly and left together. Marui, who was surprisingly not flocked by adoring fangirls, was about to leave when Konomi went over to him and greeted him again.

He turned and pocketed his hands. "Hey, sleepyhead. You know if you wanted to sleep so bad, I could have lended you my pillow." He grinned teasingly.

"Ano...Marui-kun...The start of junior high, do you remember being in Class B with me?" Konomi questioned curiously.

Marui tilted his head in confusion of her question but answered, "Oh yeah...I do."

"Um...and the clump of trees over there...Does it seem, familiar to you?" Konomi asked, even more curious this time. His reaction was something she didn't expect. The usually unfazed tensai's face turned a bright red and he tried to instinctively hide it with his hands. His eyes were wide and his cheeks were almost the same shade as his trademark hair.

He gulped and then took his lunch in a hurry. "I...uh..I really have to go. I'll talk to you after school, okay?" He swiftly left, bumping into his double's partner Jackal Kuwahara on the way out of the classroom and tripping over things that weren't at all there.

Konomi raised a curious eyebrow, but decided to let it go. She was about to head towards the garden when she found herself bumping into her old group of friends. Rika turned to her with a smug look on her face while Tsukiko and Chikako shared snobby smirks.

"Well, isn't Konomi-chan getting along so well with my Marui-kun?" Rika circled her, like a shark would circle it's bloody prey.

Konomi tried to answer but Rika interrupted her before she could even get the chance to speak. "Try to put in a good word for me, okay? Or...Does he talk about me so much, you can't even speak for yourself?" Chuckles erupted from the group of three girls.

"I don't know, Rika. It's hard to put in a good word for you when there's nothing relatively good to say about your hideous personality." Konomi retorted, finally finding her voice while narrowing her eyes.

Rika glared back at her. "You think you're so topnotch just because you have your own little loony gang now. Well, let me tell you something. Your little gang is full of nobodies. One day, the regulars will finally like us and you'll do nothing but bow down to the new populars of this school."

"Could you get any more delusional?" Konomi replied through clenched teeth. Rika raised a hand to slap her, and Konomi waited for the initial impact but it never came. She had closed her eyes to instinctively flinched and had now opened them, only to be surprised that Shoko had intervened. The tall stoic girl didn't even flinch as Rika pulled her hand away and screamed in her ear.

Shoko looked down at Konomi and sighed, "As much as I'd maturely like to say you shouldn't have tried to fight fire with fire - those were some pretty good comebacks." She let out a carefree smile as Rika, Tsukiko, and Chikako stomped through the hallway loudly.

"Thank you." Konomi inclined her head politely as Shoko gave her a small chuckle.

The confident vice-leader of their unofficial little club tossed a few strands of her hair back as the two walked through the hallway quietly. "I know what people say about our little group. Quite frankly, they don't have very positive opinions. But the point of our group is to not be afraid to be ourselves. To not fake who we are, because in the end, pretending to be someone you're not really won't get you anywhere. This might sound a bit strange, but even before the start of junior high - Ranawa and I have been eying you."

"Eying me?" Konomi asked, confused.

Shoko smiled. "We try to recruit people who stand up for something they believe in. If you hadn't noticed yet, each person in our group tries to model a belief."

"Care to explain in more detail?" Konomi wondered, not truly certain about what Shoko meant.

Shoko's smile grew wider. "Aeha. She believes in radiance within. That true beauty lies beyond that of physical beauty. That you might have been born ugly, but you can grow up to be beautiful and that a pretty face can never beat a pretty heart, you know what I mean?"

"She drew me a sketch of a bouquet, with a burgundy rose sticking out from the bunch." Konomi replied blandly, crossing her arms while contemplating deeply about Aeha's drawing. She looked up to see what kind of reaction Shoko would answer with. The shorter third year was suprised when she saw Shoko smirk.

Shoko ran a hand through her hair. "She draws everybody something different. Naomi has one of Aeha's sketches in her school binder - angel wings on an orphaned child. She drew for Kiseki a determined-looking girl living in a rundown apartment surrounded by torn books and broken pencils - the girl was writing furiously on a piece of paper. For Ranawa, she drew a student standing on top of Earth, tiptoeing to try and catch shooting stars. For Tanaka, she drew a smiling girl with closed eyes, dancing on the pavement through thunderclouds and rain. For me, she drew a person walking through a crowded hallway, surrounded by whispering classmates."

"Creative." Konomi smiled, trying to imagine what each one looked like while mentally wondering if Aeha had left messages on their drawings too.

Shoko reflected Konomi's smile with a wider one. "For Naomi's, she wrote si sono amati, avere fede. On Kiseki's, she wrote something in Greek. Something like this - Γνώση και Σοφία." She had taken out a pen and wrote freely on her arm. Konomi stared at the characters curiously and furrowed her brow before nodding.

"On Ranawa's - la fiction dans les faits. On Tanaka's - isa sa buong mundo. On mine - 자신감. And on yours?" Shoko explained, then glanced at Konomi curiously who seemed to have stiffened once the question was asked. Konomi blinked and hesitantly replied, "Radiance within."

Shoko smirked. "Of course. Radiance within."

"What about the others? What do they stand for?" Konomi asked, now extremely curious. After all, these were only middle school girls. If the normal person predicted their interests, it would be the lastest fashion, cute boys, and their favorite idols. Rika, Tsukiko, and Chikako were no exceptions to this unfortunate stereotype. But Konomi always knew that Shoko's group of friends were a bit indifferent to the usual mannerisms of the average Japanese teenage girl.

Shoko broke Konomi's thoughts. "Kiseki. She believes in woman empowerment. That girls can be so much more than just something pretty to look at."

"She always did seem to me as a feminist." Konomi commented, musing on this newly-found fact. Shoko raised an eyebrow at her and her smirk lazily disappeared as started walking down the stairs towards the first floor. "She just wants to prove that women are just as capable as men. Late Japanese traditions say otherwise, but Kiseki wants to prove our ancestors wrong."

"Then, there's Tanaka. She believes in fearlessness. To walk through a crowd of people all by yourself, but to never feel lonely. To dance in the rain, not caring if you slip. People call her Ice Princess, but the truth is even though she seems fearless, she does have fears. But to her, fearlessless doesn't necessarily mean living without fears. She believes fearlessness is having fears, but taking chances anyways." Shoko smirked again, as they neared the last step and the front doors came into view.

Konomi looked down. "To have fears, but taking chances...anyways?" She gripped her bento, wondering if she'll be able to live like that as well. Shoko, thinking that Konomi had been confused before, nodded to confirm the question.

"And then, Ranawa. She believes in rationality and good judgement. That even through the toughest times, emotions should not cloud your judgement. Even though, I have to admit - when it comes to creative writing, she gets a bit panicky." Shoko chuckled, remembering that Ranawa still had yet to find her precious writing piece that had apparently been "stolen" and was now currently nowhere to be found.

Konomi's brow furrowed. "Ranawa-chan looks more like the type to write practical things."

"Doesn't she? But creative writing is her best forte. You need to read some of her pieces, then you'll understand what I mean." Shoko shrugged her shoulders, then gently pushed the door. Konomi went through the opened entrance and took a whiff of the natural fresh air and felt her shoulders relax by instinct. "And I can't forget Naomi. She believes in faith. That no matter how dark, there will always be light. And me. I believe in mental toughness. That no matter what people say about me, if they are untrue - they do not faze me." Shoko added, explaining the last members of the group.

Konomi frowned slightly. "...Why am I part of this group then? I don't think I have strong beliefs for anything." She was afraid of the answer. Or maybe, it was the logic behind the response that frightened her. Instantly, she began to gradually doubt her whole friendship with the group. Maybe, in the end - it was all part of some pity party and they would stop being her friends once she makes new ones. Then suddenly, it shocked her how atrocious that thought was. They all seemed like such good people. Surely, they wouldn't do something so cruel and so tricky.

"Just because it seems that way to you now, doesn't mean it's the same for other people." Shoko cryptically replied. They had finally arrived in the garden, and as Konomi's brow furrowed even more in confusion - she wondered if she would ever be certain about her beliefs as her newly found friends are. She was still confused and so anxious about herself.

She had watched anime shows in elementary school and how each person had their own distinctive personality type. But she didn't belong to any of them and neither did Shoko, nor Naomi, or Tanaka, Ranawa, Kiseki, and Aeha for that matter. Not one of them were one-dimensionally fatally shy, nor extremely rebellious, or too cocky, or snobbily overconfident, or animatedly cheerful to the point where they irritated the people around them.

Maybe in the end, nobody can portray you as well as you can.

But as she sat down next to a laughing Naomi, something inside Konomi yearned to find the kind of fearlessness and certainty that her group of friends had. But nothing stopped the intimidation she felt sitting next to the carefree optimistic leader of the bunch, Naomi. Despite her free-spirited personality, even stoic disciplined Shoko looked up to her natural leadership. Konomi contemplated what Shoko told her about the older Hayashi. "That no matter how dark, there will always be light."

Then there was Aeha Hayashi, the artistic 2nd year whose cheerful smiles never seem to fade. What message did she try to send Konomi? The confused 3rd year so deeply wanted to know, to understand, to gain knowledge of, to have wisdom through.

And Tanaka Yoshida, the resident Ice Princess who never fails to let her facade down and yet still manages to live a fearful life with a fearless personality. Is there a logical way of seeing through that? She had been the one who introduced Konomi to the group, her reasons unknown.

Then Kiseki Shimizu, the local feminist. She was one of the most easy-going of the bunch, and the most approachable. Never once had Konomi seen her react to something sexist, nor does Konomi know much of Kiseki except for the fact that she was almost as intelligent as Ranawa. Konomi curiously wondered what it would be like to see life through Kiseki's eyes.

And then Ranawa Ikeda. The logical-minded 3rd year who unexpectedly (to Konomi at the least) also has creative spontaneity. Shoko said that Ranawa didn't let emotions interfere with logic. In no way could Konomi even manage to understand how it is possible to think in such a way - most specifically a young middle schooler such as her.

There's Shoko Tokiwa as well, who for the first time had actually interacted with Konomi. Now, she was not as stoic as others deem her to be. Konomi wondered, that maybe beneath her confident personality, there was somebody insecure such as herself hidden inside. Truthfully, when she had been first introduced to the group, Konomi had always thought Shoko was reluctant to let her join. Now, those worries had diminished but new anxious thoughts had replaced them.

But lastly, and most importantly - Konomi couldn't forget Marui Bunta. Ever since he had started interacting with her, good things seemed to have begun to happen to her. He was the reason why she could finally confront her friends about their shallowness and lack of sincerity. And even though she hated to admit it, his cocky personality and outgoing attitude had been the most influential for her to finally try and come out of her shell. Her heart still thumps when the memory of her recent dream starts echoing through her mind. Why had she dreamed about that? There was absolutely no way she was starting to get attracted to him.

After all, they were merely friends. Only friends.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that." His teasing voice echoed in her mind as she rejected the urge to slap herself in the face. She can't, she couldn't.

She won't be. Because, undoubtedly, if she did - more problems would ensue for her. And these problems will inevitably include his loyal (and extremely cruel) fangirls. In the end, maybe there will always be another wall to climb over, another hurdle to jump, another bump in the road.

Every ocean has its storms. Every land has its quakes. Every beginning has its ends. And every person has their own challenges to fight. Whether or not you will let those bumps in the road deter you, is something you will have to decide for yourself. But always remember - you have one life to live, but if you live it right, once is enough.

And as Konomi breathed in again, she finally found what she thought she had been missing. The reason why Shoko and Ranawa had been eying her since the start of junior high. Even though it felt strange to be so confident over something she wasn't truly sure of - something in Konomi knew she finally knows.

"What's the matter, Nomi-nee?" Aeha's youthful voice knocked the contemplating third year out of her trance.

Konomi looked up and smiled. "Just...thinking."


Hmm...As a special assignment for my readers, I used a bit of symbolism (and Google Translate) in the additional 2000 words that weren't there before. So, to make this weary writer happy -

Shoko ran a hand through her hair. "She draws everybody something different. Naomi has one of Aeha's sketches in her school binder - angel wings on an orphaned child. She drew for Kiseki a determined-looking girl living in a rundown apartment surrounded by torn books and broken pencils - the girl was writing furiously on a piece of paper. For Ranawa, she drew a student standing on top of Earth, tiptoeing to try and catch shooting stars. For Tanaka, she drew a smiling girl with closed eyes, dancing on the pavement through thunderclouds and rain. For me, she drew a person walking through a crowded hallway, surrounded by whispering classmates."

"Creative." Konomi smiled, trying to imagine what each one looked like while mentally wondering if Aeha had left messages on their drawings too.

Shoko reflected Konomi's smile with a wider one. "For Naomi's, she wrote si sono amati, avere fede. On Kiseki's, she wrote something in Greek. Something like this - Γνώση και Σοφία." She had taken out a pen and wrote freely on her arm. Konomi stared at the characters curiously and furrowed her brow before nodding.

"On Ranawa's - la fiction dans les faits. On Tanaka's - isa sa buong mundo. On mine - 자신감. And on yours?" Shoko explained, then glanced at Konomi curiously who seemed to have stiffened once the question was asked. Konomi blinked and hesitantly replied, "Radiance within."

Please review a response to what you think each drawing and each message means. Yes, you will need Google Translate as I did (for shame, Radiance...). Please oh please oh please oh please! I want some comprehensive reviewers! Of course not to be rude to those who've given the "update soon!" reviews. Those ones make me strive my best to write more quality chapters in smaller amounts of time.

But long reviews make my heart soar. No seriously. They do. Thanks again! :)

Radiance Within