"We are actually leaving the school and heading out into the real world today." Shizuma grinned at Miyuki. The silver-haired woman had come into her best friend's room the night before, to reminisce about their time at Miator. Tamao and Nagisa had understood this ritual and had decided to throw a tea party with their other friends to pass the time.

"Yes, we are. And then it's moving into the apartment, getting ready for college, then summer vacation and then we'll start studying." Miyuki summed up the following months.

"I can't believe we are actually going to the same college and living together." Shizuma smiled.

"Me neither. But I guess it was simply supposed to happen that way. I mean, how high were the chances? We both applied at lots of colleges." Miyuki grinned. "Or were you hoping to get rid of me?" she teased.

"No way. I'm glad to be stuck with you for several more years." Shizuma got up from the bed. "But we should get ready now, we don't have much time. Are you nervous about your speech?"

"No. Are you nervous about yours?" Shizuma had achieved the best results of all three schools in the final exams, so she also had to hold a speech.

"No. It's not like I've never had to step up and speak to everyone," she grinned, indicating her time as Etoile.

Quickly, the two girls got into their gowns from the winter ball and pulled on the robes in Miator's school colours. They looked at each other. Shizuma had taken the time to put her hair up like it had been for the winter ball.

"You should do more with your hair, this is a really nice change from your usual ponytail." Miyuki grinned at Shizuma's expression.

"Are you crazy? That's way too much work for every day. Let's go."


Nagisa sat next to Tamao during the ceremony. The opening, which Amane and Hikari took care of…the first piece of music by the Saintly Chorus…Miyuki's speech, Chikaru's speech, Shion's speech…another piece of music…Shizuma's speech…the awarding of the diplomas…the speeches of the teachers and the Sister…and the final piece of music.

Nagisa felt as if she was underwater. After this, nothing would be the same anymore. Miyuki and Shizuma would leave in a few days. How would she and Tamao cope?

"Nagisa-chan! The ceremony is over!" Yaya whispered in her ear, nudging her to her feet, as everyone stood up to congratulate the parting students. After a long round of applause and some final words of Miator's headmistress, people began filing out of the room.

"Nagisa!" Shizuma suddenly stood in front of her girlfriend, her eyes sparkling excitedly, her normally ivory-pale cheeks flushed pink.

"Shizuma!" Nagisa pulled her into a hug, kissing her deeply. "Congratulations, sweetheart," she murmured.

"ShiShi!" A delighted squeal sounded, accompanied by running feet. Seconds later, a small figure hurtled herself into Shizuma's arms.

"Mimi!" Shizuma cried, delighted. "I'm so glad to see you! How are you, honey?" She held the young girl at arm's length and looked at her.

"I'm great. Who's that?" she pointed to Nagisa.

"Mimi, I want you to meet someone very special to me: Aoi Nagisa. Nagisa, this is my sister, Hanazono Midori."

Politely, Midori and Nagisa bowed to each other.

Nagisa curiously studied the young girl. She was about 11 or 12 years old. Her hair was long and the same silver as Shizuma's, but the eyes were a startling sapphire blue. The girl seemed pretty tall for her age, had a slim, but distinctly feminine figure, with Shizuma's beautifully cut face and even features.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Midori asked her older sister.

"Yes, she is." Shizuma possessively put an arm around Nagisa's shoulders.

"She's pretty." Midori stated flatly.

"Arrigato, Midori-san." Nagisa blushed at the complement.

"Shizu-chan! There you are! And of course, Mimi-chan found you first." The low, rumbling voice with a hint of amusement came from a tall, trim, silver-haired man, dressed in an expensive suit. Next to him walked a woman, younger than him, with dark hair, pulled back in a French twist, wearing a short violet cocktail dress.

"Daddy!" Shizuma let go of Nagisa and threw herself into her father's embrace. Nagisa felt a bit out of place at the happy family reunion. Then, she heard Shizuma's voice: "Daddy, I want you to meet someone: This is Aoi Nagisa." She turned to Nagisa with a big smile on her face.

"Hello, Nagisa-san." With a short bow, Shizuma's father greeted the young girl.

"Ko…Konnichiwa, Hanazono-shi," Nagisa stuttered, bowing nervously.

"And this is my stepmother, Hanazono Akemi." Shizuma introduced the woman.

Nagisa repeated her greeting, still nervous.

"There's no need to be nervous, Nagisa-san, we don't bite." Shizuma's father smiled at the young woman.

"Hai." Nagisa blushed crimson.

"Well, you don't meet your girlfriend's parents every day. I would be nervous, too." Midori said, a mischievous glint in her blue eyes.

Nagisa stared at Midori with huge eyes, wishing that the floor would just open up and swallow her.

Midori's father stopped, turned towards his younger daughter, one eyebrow raised. "There's still no need for her to be nervous."

Nagisa giggled. "You look just like Shizuma when you do that, Hanazono-shi." A moment later, she looked completely mortified.

"I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

Shizuma's father was laughing heartily. "Don't worry, Nagisa-san. I know that there are striking resemblances between Shizu-chan and me. And please, call me Masahiro."

"Hai, Masahiro-san."

"And you can call me Akemi," the beautiful woman told Nagisa.
"Hai, Akemi-san." The redhead studied Shizuma's stepmother for a moment and noticed that she had the same sapphire-blue eyes as her daughter Midori.

"I would love to invite you two to dinner while we wait for the ball to begin," Masahiro looked quizzically at his daughter and her girlfriend.

"I'd love to go, dad."

"Me, too. But I still need to change before the ball." Nagisa said.

"How about you change now and then we go to dinner?" Akemi suggested.

"Cool, then I'll go look at ShiShi's room. I need to know what my life is going to be like after the summer." Midori grinned

"You'll start at Miator next year?" Nagisa asked.

"Hai. I'm really excited already." Midori grinned.

"Then you'd better look at Nagisa's room, MiMi. You won't get a single room until you're in sixth grade." Shizuma pointed out.

"Who wants a single room? Sharing sounds like much more fun." Midori said, a naughty grin very much like Shizuma's pulling at her lips.

"It is, believe me…" Shizuma answered.

"Okay, girls, we'll wait for you by the car." Masahiro said, already drifting toward the parking lot.


"Dad, Mom, Hiroki, I would like you to meet Suzumi Tamao." Miyuki nervously introduced her girlfriend.

"Tamao, this is my father, Rokujou Katsumi, my mother, Rokujou Nanami, and my younger brother Rokujou Hiroki."

Everyone bowed politely, if a bit uptight. Tamao had never felt so nervous in her life before.

"Konnichiwa, Rokujou-shi, Hiroki-san" she said, hoping she sounded confident.

"Konnichiwa Tamao-san." The three answered.

Everyone stood and stared silently. Tamao racked her brain for something to say, feeling very uncomfortable in the silence, being scrutinized by Miyuki's family.

"Um…did you enjoy the ceremony, Rokujou-shi?" she finally asked.

"Yes, very much so. Especially Miyuki-chan's and Shizuma-san's speeches. They were…" Miyuki's father drifted into a long discussion with Tamao concerning the two mentioned speeches. Miyuki breathed a sigh of relief. Hiroki moved over to her.

"You know, at first, I was a bit putt off that you're lesbian. But you've got damn good taste," he whispered into his older sister's ear. Miyuki grinned. "I know," she answered quietly.

"Even though I would have gone for that Hanazono-chick. She's hot as hell." His eyes drifted toward Shizuma and her family.

"Wow, look! There's a smaller version of her! I could ask Dad if that would be good match…" Hiroki's voice trailed off.

"I doubt that's going to work. That family does not do arranged marriages." Miyuki smirked. "But you could always try to win her over, I guess." Hiroki stared at her.

"An important, influential family that doesn't do arranged marriages? You don't really believe that, do you, Miyuki?"

"Well, try if you want. I'm going to find Tamao, Mom and Dad. We have some time to spend before the ball starts."


Nagisa lay in bed, thinking about the day. Next to her, Shizuma gently snored, having fallen asleep much earlier than her girlfriend for once.

Meeting Shizuma's family had been great, they'd had so much fun talking and laughing at the ball. Mimi, with her straightforwardness, would take some getting used to, tending to embarrass Nagisa every few minutes, but she was a great kid.

And the ball itself had been wonderful, too. Nagisa remembered watching Shizuma dance with her father- an impressive sight. And Masahiro had danced with Nagisa as well. She'd understood why Shizuma was such a wonderful dancer after that experience.

Tomorrow, her wonderful lover would move out of the Strawberry dorms…Nagisa didn't want to think about it. Well, at least she'd have someone to talk to who would understand her, Tamao and Miyuki had the same problem.

Sighing, she turned to look at Shizuma, sleeping peacefully after the eventful day.

'I wonder what the future has in store for us,' Nagisa thought. 'You at university, I have to stay here…and I still have two years until graduation. Will we manage?'
She lovingly stroked Shizuma's cheek and watched the older girl smile in her sleep. 'Right now, I can't imagine ever being without you again. But I know you love me and I love you…so we'll make the best of it and see what happens.'

Smiling, she snuggled up to her girlfriend and finally fell asleep.


The next evening, Shizuma and Miyuki stood next to a mountain of suitcases and bags, waiting for the cars to arrive. Tamao and Nagisa waited with them, all four of them near tears.

"Remember, we'll come and see you in a few weeks on the weekend, after we've set up our apartment and taken care of our university stuff. And in the summer, we'll go on a trip together, before we have to start studying." Miyuki said bravely, struggling not to sniffle.

Tamao had her face buried on Miyuki's shoulder and nodded sadly. Nagisa and Shizuma also nodded, not really happy with the situation.

"I know, but it will be sooo different, without you two here. And we still have our exams coming up," Nagisa said glumly.

"Honey, don't worry, I know you'll do fine. And Tamao as well. Just look forward to our vacation." Shizuma pulled Nagisa into a tight hug.

"The cars are here." Miyuki heaved a sigh and stroked Tamao's hair.

In silence, they watched the two big cars pulling up to the dorm building. As they stopped, two men jumped out, greeted the girls and began piling Shizuma's and Miyuki's bags into the trunks.

"Well, this is it," Tamao said, sniffling. She hugged Shizuma, then pulled Miyuki close to her, not wanting to let her girlfriend go.

"I love you," she whispered into the older girl's ear.

"I love you, too," Miyuki answered just as quietly.

Nagisa was holding on to Shizuma as if there were no tomorrow.

"I don't want you to go," she murmured while her tears fell.

"Honey, I don't want to go. But I have to. I'll come and visit as soon as possible, I promise," Shizuma whispered as she stroked Nagisa's back and fought not to cry as well.

"Ladies? We have to leave or we'll be late," one of the men said, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

Tamao gave Miyuki a final hug, Nagisa reluctantly let go of Shizuma and quickly hugged Miyuki.

"Bye, we'll see you soon," Shizuma and Miyuki promised as each of them climbed into a car. The doors were closed. Tamao and Nagisa stood and watched until both cars had disappeared into the distance.

"Come on, we should go inside," Nagisa finally said, taking Tamao's arm and pulling her towards the dormitory building. With a final glance down the street, Tamao followed.