As hinted in the last chapter, Mion, Aira and Rizumu are in a pinch that happens a lot in school animes.
"Christmas festival?" MARs asked Ome.
"We're having one next week from the 23rd to the 25th."
"That sounds like fun!" Rizumu's eyes watered with happiness.
"Right?"
"But Ome, why do you know that? We haven't heard." Mion asked. Ome glanced at the girls in Aira's class. They were whispering about them.
"Oh I just asked the principal! She seems to know the president really well!" Her voice sounded exaggerated.
"Ome? What's wrong?"
"Oh nothing! How about this? We stay after school and make up ideas for our classes' event! We aim to catch the principal's eye!" She pointed upward as her eyes sparkled.
"Mou Ome!" They all laughed together as Ome got a bad feeling with all the girls smiling in the background. As Mion, Ome and Rizumu had to return to their classroom, Aira's math class started.
"Today we are going back to very simple algebra. We'll be reviewing system of equations." The boring math teacher wrote 2 equations on the board, 2x+y=9 and 3x-y=16. "Now who can solve this?"
"We volunteer Harune san! After all as an idol she's perfect at anything right?" A girl yelled. Some girls nodded with her.
"Well then, Harune san. Please come up and give me the solution."
"Hai…" She walked up nervously. It wasn't a problem with the boys; it was more like the girls.
"I bet she can't even do this…"
"After all she's just on TV…
"She must not even be that smart!" The remarks made Aira shake with fear. Mii just crossed her legs with the look of triumph on her face. Aira knew how to do it but her uneasiness made her mind go blank. The girls just kept snickering while the boys didn't really care about the class in general. They all waited. Aira's hand shook.
"What's wrong Harune san? Can't do it?" One of the girls stood up to mock her.
"I guess she really doesn't belong in this class…" Other girls narrowed their eyes in agreement. Aira couldn't shake the feeling off. Seiji pounded his desk as he got up.
"I've been meaning to say this… But I have no idea how to solve system of equations! So can someone help me?" He smiled. Aira turned around to see him giving her a thumbs up. She felt a little better. At least one person was still her friend. She calmed down as her hand started writing on the board. With ease, she got to her solution, x=5 and y=-1. The girls in the class all huffed because their plan failed. Aira unconsciously gave Seiji a happy smile without knowing what it would trigger. His face reddened as his mouth opened. No words came out. His hands were shaking from nervousness as Aira kept her eyes on him, at least until she could tell that he was acting strange.
"I forgot about him…" Mii put her head down as she thought of how to get pass Adams Seiji.
"Takamine, please read from page 86."
"Even if he was faced with hardships, this hero never gave up. He persisted until the very end to protect his people, and sadly, died for those same people. This soldier will never be forgotten." Mion fluently recited from her English workbook.
"Excellent!" She sat down and smiled to herself.
"Isn't it obvious that she would be good at English? She's from overseas after all."
"Isn't it too conceited to act so confident when it is something you can easily do Takamine san?" It was obvious that this girl was trying to mock Mion.
"And what of it?" Mion retorted.
"It would be obvious that you can get better grades than all of us but there's no need to boast about it-"
"I wasn't-"
"To be honest, it's really annoying." Some girls said bluntly. This made everyone else in the class whisper in agreement.
"I guess that's true."
"Takamine san is just so different from all of us."
"Like a whole new world…"
"What is this?" Mion looked around the classroom. Everyone was whispering about her and the teacher was writing on the board. Her spine felt cold with fear. Rie pretended she didn't notice.
"Takamine Mion wasn't my target but I guess this is a good situation too-" The clattering sound of a chair moving got everyone's attention.
"So what if Mion Chan is different? Why does that make her annoying?" Jiro said to the class.
"What is he doing?! Just leave me-"
"If you guys take the time to get to know her better, you'll see that she's not just an amazing idol but also a good person with feelings."
"What…? Why is Jiro covering for Takamine Mion?" Rie looked away. Mion blushed at all the good things he said about her in one sentence. The class went speechless after that. And around the same time,
"Can I get a volunteer to tell the class what all living things are made up of? I would like a full explanation."
"Let's volunteer Amamiya san. If she's an idol I'm sure she'd know this. After all idols are supposed to be very smart~"
"Eh? But I-"
"You're saying you can't do it? How pathetic!" The entire row by the window of the science class laughed.
"I can! It is um…" Ome eyed the girls laughing ridiculously. They stopped when they saw fire around Amy.
"What's wrong Amamiya san? Can't you say it?" Another girl mocked her. Because of all the pressure, she froze in place. Ome didn't even know what to do. If she helped Rizumu, the girls would ridicule Rizumu because she needed help from someone else. The sound of a chair hitting the floor made everyone except the teacher and Amy turn their gaze to the back of the room. Sasahara kicked the vacant seat next to his desk. And from the looks of it, he was pretty mad. He closed a notebook and threw it up. Ome caught it and gave it to Rizumu.
"I don't know how Sasahara got your notebook but here. Read from the bookmarked page. Just do it." Ome whispered to her.
"Can we have an answer?" They all started their rude remarks again. Kiri smiled.
"Rie should be happy-"
"Living things are all made up of cells. According to the cell theory, the cell is the basic unit of all life, all living things are made up of one or more cells, and all cells come from preexisting cells. However there are exceptions to this case. Viruses are living things but not made up of cells like the cell theory says. Also the first cell has not been found." She said reading the writing in the book.
"Correct…" The biology teacher was amazed.
"How is that possible?" Some girls muttered in disbelief. Other students in the class that didn't know their intentions, smiled and clapped for Rizumu. She looked back to Sasahara and gave him a radiant smile to how her gratitude. A tint of pink appeared on his face as he looked away. He was secretly satisfied with her reaction. Ome whistled as she rested her elbow on the desk and put her head on top of it.
"Slow… Really…" She said.
"Now I have 2 people to deal with…" Kiri shot glares at both Sasahara and Ome. Morning classes were finally over by this time. MARs met up in Aira's classroom.
"Really… I don't know what happened this morning…" Mion sighed.
"Did we do something to make everyone hate us?" MARs thought back as Seiji and Jiro looked down.
"What's wrong?" The girls asked.
"N-Nothing! We'll go buy our bread now!" They dragged Kazuya with them leaving MARs and Ome.
"Why are boys so weird?" Ome looked annoyed. The girls decided to head to the roof first.
"Today's the day you join the cooking club Zhang Amy!"
"I refuse!"
"We will not take no for an answer!"
"Put that frying pan down!" Ome was chased around the school by people with ladles, frying pans and spatulas, leaving MARs by themselves.
"Let's go up first shall we?" Mion said as they climbed the stairs. A group of 2nd years were coming down the same stairs and one stuck out their foot out. Aira tripped over her foot and fell back.
"Aira!" She didn't fall on her back but on her leg. As she tried to get up, there was a sharp pain in her right ankle causing her to fall on her
"Are you ok Aira?!" Mion and Rizumu ran down the stairs to help her. They peered up at their senpais.
"Yeah it's nothing." She smiled at them.
"Stay away from Callings." They said before they walked off.
"Great… This is bullying…"
"What do we do Mion?"
"I don't know… For now we need to get Aira's foot bandaged up or else she could seriously injure her ankle enough to not be able to do the Prism Show."
"That'd be terrible!" They helped her to the nurse's office. When they got there they saw Shou.
"What happened Aira?!" He saw Mion and Rizumu helping her to stand.
"Oh nothing! I just tripped! Mion Chan and Rizumu Chan are overreacting and saying that I need to get it treated right away."
"Are you ok? I'll help-"
"Don't worry about me Shou san! Go eat lunch with Mii Chan!"
"But-"
"Mion Chan and Rizumu Chan are here so don't worry!" She gave him a fake smile.
"Ok…" He walked away unsure of whether to believe her or not.
"Aira, why did you lie?" Mion got out the first aid kit and wrapped bandages around Aira's foot.
"I didn't really lie did I?" Aira smiled with her eyes closed.
"Stop hiding your true feelings Aira! We know you like Shou! Why do you keep supporting him with Mii?!" Rizumu yelled.
"Because… What right do I have to get in the way of pure feelings toward Shou san?"
"Then why didn't you tell him that you were bullied?"
"Bullied? Mou Mion Chan I don't think that can be considered bullying just yet…"
"Aira…"
"I guess I just don't want Shou san to worry abut me… I would feel guilty… Because he doesn't particularly like me…" Aira rubbed her watery eyes. Rizumu started tearing up too.
"I knew it too… That Hibiki never actually liked me like how I felt for him…" Rizumu covered her eyes as she cried beside Aira.
"Aira… Rizumu…" Mion felt sad as she hugged them to comfort them.
"What about me? I like Jun san but…" Mion started crying too. No one saw them in this state. Each girl thought of her own situation.
"Don't let him worry…?" Is that really the right choice?
~~~~~~~~Why do girls hide their feelings…? Because love makes them act ridiculous~~~~~~~~
