So now that I've pretty much collected all of the evidence that I need to determine that my life is officially an anime, I wonder if I should start treating it as one. Will I randomly walk in one day on Tamao changing and pass out while blood gushes out of my nose? If I'm the protagonist, will I be able to raise all the proper event flags to unlock the harem ending? Oh, the possibilities are endless!
SMACK!
Lost in her delusional train of thought, Nagisa had stopped focusing on where she was going and walked right into a wall. She fell backwards to the floor and staried at the ceiling in a daze. "Ow…" She mumbled, rubbing her nose. Perverted scenes are supposed to give me a nose bleed, but running into a wall doesn't do anything? Well, it hurts. A lot. Owie…
"Are you alright?" She could see three heads appear in her line of sight, belonging to Tamao, Hikari, and Tsubomi. She was about to question why Yaya wasn't there as well, but quickly found her answer when she turned her head to the sound of laughter. She could see Yaya holding her sides, laughing her ass off at Nagisa's expense.
"You shouldn't laugh at other people's expense." She said with a pout after getting back to her feet.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it. I've never actually seen someone walk straight into a wall before." Yaya tried to look serious, but she immediately had to put a hand over her mouth to stop another laugh from getting out.
Nagisa glared at her. "You're sitting on the floor."
Hikari stood next to her and had what appeared to be a concerned look on her face. "It could be karma." Even she's mocking me? Nagisa looked back at Tsubomi and Tamao for support. Although they both looked concerned, Tamao looked like she wanted to laugh.
"Et tu, Tamao?" Yaya stopped holding back her laughter and Hikari giggled. Tamao tried to look apologetic, but the blunette was smiling a little. "You're all sitting on the floor! At least Tsubomi-chan isn't laughing at me."
"Of course. You could have actually gotten hurt. I can't believe you three would laugh at that. What if she broke her nose?" Aren't you being a little too serious?
"At least Tsubomi-chan is on my side." She put her arm around the pinkette's arm. "I'll share my bed with you."
"Nagisa-sempai! That sounds so dirty, you idiot!" I didn't even mean to make a dirty joke that time. DAMN YOU, SHIZUMA!
A sneeze came from the floor below, but that was completely unrelated.
The girls followed Nagisa as she dragged the blushing Tsubomi by the arm back to her and Tamao's room. Tsubomi didn't bother to try breaking free, most likely due to the lack of necessity more than anything. She wasn't stupid. She knew Nagisa didn't mean it in a perverted way, and Nagisa could tell. On the other hand, the reason she wasn't going to let go is because the younger girl called her an idiot, so embarrassing her suddenly skyrocketed on Nagisa's list of priorities.
As they walked back to the room, Nagisa stopped when a few girls were staring at her. "Um…can I help you?"
"Cheating is wrong, you know." Generic Girl A spoke up. What? Nagisa looked at them like she was speaking French. "Just because Rokujo-san isn't here, you shouldn't start flirting with other girls." What the hell is she talki-oh for fuck's sake.
"Wait, what?" Generic B looked at A. "I thought Nagisa-chan was dating Etoile-sama. They're seen together all the time." You have got to be shitting me. People actually believe that shit? "I can't believe she would cheat on the Etoile with another girl." Nagisa pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
"W-w-w-what?" Tsubomi's voice was slightly high pitched and her face was a shade of pink that matched her hair perfectly. Revenge~!
"That's stupid." Nagisa spoke up, sounding slightly aggravated. "Just because I became friends with them, someone decided to spread rumors that I was dating them? Since when did I become part of some love triangle?" She looked at Tsubomi. "Or love square, I guess." She grinned and suddenly pulled Tsubomi into a hug. "Tsubomi-chan is the only one for me~" The two girls gasped.
Tsubomi immediately denied it in embarrassment. "She's lying! Nagisa-sempai is just being an idiot!" She called me an idiot again! I am so going to- When Yaya's laugh erupted from behind them, Nagisa could see Tsubomi's flustered face suddenly shift to a sadder expression. Ah. So that's why. So I really am an idiot. Nagisa sighed and let Tsubomi go.
"I don't know who spread those rumors about me, but they're false. I am currently single, and I have been single the entire time that I've been here. Rokujo-san and Shizuma-san are nothing more than friends. Would you two be so sweet as to spread that rumor around?" Nagisa gave them an innocent and sweet smile, but they both could sense the sharp edge in her words. They quickly nodded and scurried off. I wonder how fast and how much that rumor is going to be skewed into something worse. As she watched them run off, she pats Tsubomi on the head. "Sorry, Tsubomi-chan."
"It's fine." She mumbled, looking away.
"You really are popular, aren't you?" Yaya asked as she watched the two girls run away.
"What can I say? It's a blessing and a curse." Nagisa shrugged. Before anyone could add anything else, the sound of things falling over came from Nagisa and Tamao's room.
"I think we're being robbed." Nagisa spoke in a falsely serious voice.
"We don't have anything worth stealing." Tamao said with a frown. She's not amused. No one appreciates my sense of humor at all. Nagisa sighed and opened the door.
"I told you we've been robbed." Nagisa replied as she entered the room, looking at the pile of assorted junk tossed around the center of the room. "I'm not sure when we ever had a mop or a bucket, though."
"It looks more like someone let a cat loose in your room." Hikari said as she walked behind her.
"A cat with a mop and bucket, apparently." Yaya added, standing next to Hikari.
Nagisa looked back at them, grinning devilishly. "Perhaps the dorms are haunted?" Hikari and Tsubomi both gave her a nervous look, which only made her smile widen. When they're nervous stares began to appear even more frightened, she turned around and saw the sheets rising. "Oh, jolly good. I was right." She pointed accusingly at the sheets. "Oh demon of restless nights, I shall exorcise you!" She was about to kick the sheets, but stopped her foot when she saw green clothing underneath it. A maid outfit? She walked up to it and brushed the sheets off.
"Chiyo-chan?" Tamao asked as they all stared at the first year who was rubbing her head as if she had hit it. Knowing her, she probably did.
"It hurts…" Chiyo mumbled. Yup. She hit her head.
Nagisa sighed and rubbed Chiyo's head with her hand. "I'm buying you a helmet."
"Eh?" Chiyo looked up, seeming to not have realized that she wasn't alone until now. Her cheeks immediately lit up in embarrassment upon seeing three people look at her with concern and two of them looking at her with amusement. "That's a pretty mean joke, Nagisa-onee-sama." Nagisa could only assume that Chiyo was at least attempting to be serious, but the fact that she was blushing, stuttering, and looking down at the ground didn't help much.
"What happened here?" A distinguishable and frightening voice asked from the doorway. The group slowly turned around to face the head sister.
"I tripped." Nagisa answered, feigning embarrassment by stuttering slightly and rubbing the back of her head. The sister gave her a skeptical look. "…twice?" She only narrowed her eyes, and then shook her head.
"Aoi-san, come with me to my office." The sister ordered before turning around and walking back to her office, apparently expecting the strawberry-haired protagonist to follow her.
"Now you should be worried." Nagisa whispered to Tamao as she walked past the blunette and out of the room.
"Of course that's not true!" Nagisa nearly shouted in anger. The sister gave her a sharp look and Nagisa tried to force herself to calm down. "I'll admit that I'll tease people with words, and I'll hug my friends because they're my friends. You've read my medical records, and I'm certainly sure you were able to piece together what happened to me, right?" Nagisa sounded calmer now. The sister nodded her head in response. "Then you should know that these rumors about me going around and groping girls randomly are complete lies. I would never touch someone I didn't know like that. I can't even believe such a rumor is going around!" Her anger was rising again as she spoke. Fucking gossipers and rumor lovers. I will so kick the ass of whoever spread this kind of bullshit.
"I thought as much." Nagisa's anger seemed to deflate a bit at the unexpected response.
"R-really? I'm happy that you believe me, but why do you?" Why am I even in trouble for that kind of rumor? It's just a baseless rumor, but the person who actually does that doesn't seem to ever get in trouble for it.
"I'm not in a position where I can judge who is lying without hearing both sides. When I was told about these rumors, I obviously had my doubts. I know what kind of person you are and I know what you've been through, but I had to hear it in your own words before I could pass judgment. Rumors are nothing more than rumors, after all." Nagisa could swear that the sister smirked, but then realized she was clearly becoming delusional because of her frustration. That was the only way that became logical. "Do you know why a rumor like this would start?"
"I would like to say I didn't, but it's pretty obvious when I think about it. Rumors are something that can start from any false premise in almost an instant. My guess would be that the rumors about me dating Miyuki-san and Shizuma-san, both of which are false, might have caused someone to hold a grudge against me. It's simple jealousy. The two of them are both regarded highly within the school, so the new kid coming in and becoming friends with them so easily-" Easily as far as anyone else is concerned. "-could cause someone who has been here for a longer time to become jealous. Honestly, the only people I wouldn't suspect of doing this would be the first years."
Nagisa sighed. "I wouldn't bother looking into it too much. Rumors like that are obviously misplaced to those who have met me before. I've met a good percentage of students in Miator already just by talking to them between and after classes. I've also met random students in the other two schools during lunch, as well as randomly speaking with students that live in the dorm, so I would think I have more friends than foes." Plus, I can't kick this chick's ass if the sister finds her first.
"Very well then. If you're not worried about it, I won't pursue any further action." Well, at least I'm not in trouble. I thought I was being sentenced to the gallows when she wanted me to come here. "There is another reason that I called you here." Damn it!
"Ma'am?" Nagisa asked with innocent confusion in her voice.
"As you may know, Spica and Lulim don't do room duty day like we do at Miator." Nagisa nodded her head. "Due to the first years picking who they want to be assigned to, some of them end up paired with older students that aren't effective at tutoring them in the subjects they need the most help in." Oh right. We're supposed to tutor our kouhai in exchange for the maid thing. Wait, wouldn't you run into the same problem with drawing lots like Miator does? In fact, that seems like you'd have more trouble pairing up with people with the knowledge you need.
"So, you want me to help tutor a first year who needs help?" If it's French, I'm gonna laugh my ass off.
The sister nodded her head. "That's right. The girl I would like you to tutor is Okuwaka Tsubomi." Tsubomi is struggling in a class? That seems unlikely.
"Are Hikari-chan and Yaya-chan both bad at the subject she needs help with?"
"Not exactly. Okuwaka-san is struggling with English, which happens to be Konohana-san's worst subject." Konohana? That's Hikari, right? "As for Nanto-san, well…" She looked like she wasn't sure how to word whatever she wanted to say. Given the way Yaya treats Tsubomi, it's obvious why she wouldn't make a very good tutor, but the sister shouldn't know about that. "Given Nanto-san's rather carefree attitude towards academics and her record of skipping classes, I don't feel she would be the best tutor." What a roundabout way of saying Yaya is an above average slacker.
"But you feel that I am?" Nagisa found it almost humorous and she had to stop herself from grinning.
"Indeed. Living in America might have played some role in it, but you have some of the highest marks in English, and you have outstanding scores in most of your classes." Ha ha. She knows I can't speak French worth a damn. I'm learning, damn it!
"Tsubomi-chan is my friend, so I would be glad to help her out. I'll let her know tonight." Nagisa smiled. I can't really blame her for having trouble. Unlike most schools, this school's curriculum requires Japanese, French, and English. It's not difficult to believe that a first year would struggle with having classes in three different languages.
The head sister sighed in relief. Was she expecting me to say no? Maybe she was really worried? I bet Yaya causes all sorts of trouble if the head sister of a different school feels that way about her.
With that taken care of, Nagisa excused herself to return to her room. When she walked back in, she saw Tsubomi and Chiyo sitting on her bed, Yaya and Hikari sitting on Tamao's bed, and Tamao sitting at one of the desks. Apparently, they had cleaned up while she was gone, but there were more pressing matters to deal with. "I told you three to sit on the floor!" Well, make that matter. She shook her fist angrily at Hikari and Yaya since Tamao was closer to the first years.
"We forgot." Yaya replied instantly with a smirk.
"Maybe if you didn't slack off so much, your thoughts would be more organized." Nagisa replied nonchalantly as she plopped down on her bed next to Chiyo.
Tsubomi snorted. "Good luck with that. I've been telling her that for over a week. It's never going to happen." Yaya frowned and glared at them both, causing Chiyo to feel awkward since she was sitting between them both.
"I think my work ethic is my concern and mine alone."
"Nope! We all care. As your friends, we have the explicit right to intrude upon your personal life and harass you until you improve it." Yaya didn't know whether she should be more concerned about what Nagisa just said, or how sweet she sounded when she said it. It seemed so evil for some reason.
"A-anyway…" Tamao interjected, preventing things from escalating. Aww. I wanted to hear what sort of witty remark she had next. "It's almost time for dinner. I think we should head down now." Really? How long was I in her office?
Yaya's eyes suddenly lit up. "I've got an idea. Why don't we hold a tea party at night?" She really doesn't care about school rules at all, does she?
"A midnight tea party?" Hikari looked intrigued.
"Don't you know what will happen if we get caught?" Tsubomi spoke up, apparently in lecture mode again.
"Doesn't that make it more fun? Perhaps we could make it a game to try and not get caught." A game? Oh, this should be fun.
"That does sound pretty fun. If we're going to do it in our room, where are your rooms at?"
"M-my room is just at the end of the hall and around the corner." Chiyo answered first.
"Our room is at the end of Spica's dorms closest to Miator's section." Hikari followed.
"My room is at the opposite end of the dorm. I'm right next to Lulim's section, so I'm the farthest distance possible, really." Tsubomi frowned. She did not want to get caught.
"Hmm…" Nagisa tapped her chin in thought. "Then to make it fair, we should do teams of two. Tamao pairs with Chiyo-chan, Hikari-chan with Yaya-chan, and I'm with Tsubomi-chan."
"What's your logic behind these pairs?" Yaya sounded like she was trying to question Nagisa's madness, but her face showed that she was clearly looking forward to it.
"Simple, really. Tamao and Chiyo are the closest, but Tamao will have to go to Chiyo's room, then the two of them will have to sneak back. They have no experience with sneaking around in the dark. You and Hikari-chan aren't used to walking in the dark either, but you both start from the same room and aren't much farther away than Chiyo's room is. Tsubomi's room is the farthest, but unlike the rest of you, I'm used to traversing in the dark." Nagisa tapped her sunglasses, but realized there was no point to it since Tamao was the only one that knew why she wore them. "That's about as fair as the teams can get." Nagisa was sporting the Cheshire grin. Sneaking around with someone else seemed like it would be twice as fun as sneaking around alone.
"We should up the ante a little. Whoever gets caught can't rat out the other two groups. It makes sure that only the losers lose, and it also adds the risk of getting into more trouble if another group is caught." Yaya's grin could rival Nagisa's, and the redhead had to admit that she was impressed with her way of thinking.
"Brilliant!" Nagisa rose to her feet with enthusiasm. "This is going to be so fun~"
"It does sound pretty interesting." Tamao had her classic 'Nagisa is being cute' smile on. Chiyo and Hikari both nodded their heads, but Tsubomi looked nervous. She really doesn't want to get in trouble, does she? Well, I'm not going to let her get caught. I am a ninja, after all.
"Then the game is on!" Nagisa pumped her fist in the air for emphasis.
Sneak sneak sneak.
She stopped and poked her head around the corner, looking down the dark hallway for any sign of movement. Taking a quick glance behind her to see that she was alone, she quietly sprinted down the corridor.
Sneak sneak sneak.
She abruptly came to a halt in front of her target door, nearly tripping in her excitement. Destination reached. Aww yeah! I'm not just a ninja; I'm the ninja! She lightly tapped her knuckles on the door three times, and then listened for movement. The door slowly opened and Nagisa could barely make out the pink strands of hair from the girl hiding behind the door. "You're early." She mumbled.
"I wanted to talk to you about something and I didn't think it was a good idea to bring it up in front of everyone." Nagisa's voice was rising in volume as she spoke, causing Tsubomi to swing the door open and pull her into her room.
"Idiot! Are you trying to get caught?" Tsubomi shut the door and glared at Nagisa, who just grinned in response.
"Tsubomi-chan sure is bold, pulling me into her room so late at night." Nagisa spoke as if she was embarrassed.
"W-w-w-wha? I-idiot!" She shouted, then covered her mouth and glared daggers at Nagisa. Oh this is too much fun. She was on the same level of cute as Tamao and Chikaru, but her embarrassment is far cuter than Hikari, Miyuki, or Tamao's.
Nagisa crossed her arms and pretended to pout. "You keep calling me an idiot. That's so mean."
Tsubomi crossed her arms as well. "It's because you keep acting like an idiot, Nagisa-sempai."
"Stop calling me that." Nagisa whined.
"I will when you stop acting like an idiot!"
"No, not that. Stop calling me sempai. Just call me Nagisa."
"W-what?" Tsubomi blushed. "I-I can't do that. It's disrespectful."
"I don't think it's disrespectful if we're friends. Besides, isn't it more disrespectful to call someone a name they don't like? Right, Tsubomi?" Nagisa replied in a teasing voice.
"F-fine, Nagisa…" Tsubomi mumbled, looking off to the side in embarrassment. She's too serious and it's absolutely adorable.
"Oh yeah. If I'm an idiot, what does that make the girl I'm supposed to tutor?" Nagisa asked innocently, but she had the same devilish grin from before.
"What? Tutor? I don't need a tutor!" Tsubomi looked up at Nagisa and instantly realized that she had taken the bait.
"Oh? Who said anything about tutoring you? Are you struggling in one of your classes?"
"N-no! I'm doing just fine. Thank you for your concern."
"Are you being stubborn?" Nagisa asked in perfect English. Tsubomi raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what she was saying.
"I did not!" Tsubomi replied, but Nagisa's widening grin indicated that she had translated what she was told wrong.
"That doesn't make any sense, Tsubomi~" The first year lowered her head in defeat.
"Fine. I'm bad at English. What's the deal with this school requiring three languages anyway?" Tsubomi crossed her arms with a 'hmph'. Didn't I say something so similar to that before?
"That's why I'm going to be your tutor, since Hikari-chan isn't very good at English, and Yaya-chan is…Yaya-chan." They both sighed.
"Is that why you came here early?"
"Yup. You have a lot of pride and I figured bringing it up in front of others would hurt your feelings. Plus, it'd cause you to call me an idiot again and that hurts my feelings."
"It does?" Tsubomi looked worried. It doesn't, but doesn't she realize that calling people 'idiot' would eventually hurt someone's feelings?
"If I said yes, would you stop? Calling everyone an idiot is going to make the wrong person mad one day." Nagisa shrugged. "Besides, you'll never win over Yaya-chan's heart if you keep calling her an idiot as well."
"What do you-I uh…I mean- uh… what are you…?" Tsubomi became so flustered that she became unable to form coherent sentences.
"Wait, seriously? I mean, I kind of had a hunch from earlier, but I could have easily passed that off as you not liking it when people laugh at you." Tsubomi didn't say anything and just buried her head in her hands to hide her blush. "So…" Nagisa couldn't help grinning. Yaya and Tsubomi seemed like they would make one hell of an entertaining couple. "When are you going to confess?"
"WHAT?" Tsubomi shouted and immediately covered her mouth again. She looked up at Nagisa with widened eyes before shaking her head furiously. "I can't confess to her."
"Why not?" What a cute reaction.
"You haven't known her long enough, so you probably haven't realized that she's in love with Hikari-sempai." Tsubomi's mumble was barely above a whisper.
"Seriously? I had no idea. She's really good at hiding her emotions. I didn't sense any awkwardness or anything from her. She could be a brilliant actor one day."
"Well I heard that she's been acting since she was a kid." Tsubomi sat down on her bed and sighed. It was then that she realized that despite there being two beds, no one else was here.
"You don't have a roommate?"
"No. Whoever was supposed to share this room with me suddenly transferred to a different school. It's probably better that way or else both of us would be in trouble right now." Trouble? Oh, right. I already forgot about our little game. Well it was a good way to change the subject. She doesn't look as sad now.
"Perhaps we should sneak out now? We're already late. They probably think we've been caught and are laughing at our apparent misfortune."
"Yeah." Tsubomi stood up and looked nervous. "Are you sure we won't get caught?"
"Definitely. I'm an expert at this sort of thing." Nagisa replied with a reassuring smile.
"An expert? What are you, a ninja?" She's discovered my secret!
"…yes." Nagisa answered, completely serious. Tsubomi just rolled her eyes.
"Lead on then, ninja-sempai."Nagisa rolled her eyes this time as she walked to the door and pressed her ear against it, listening for any noise. After listening to nothing but silence, she slowly opened the door and glanced up and down the hall.
"Alright, it's clear." She whispered before taking Tsubomi's hand. The pinkette was about to protest, but Nagisa shook her head. "You can't see as well in the dark as I can. It would be bad if we were to get separated."
Tsubomi nodded her head and flipped her lights off. She noticed Nagisa pull her shades up after she did so and wanted to question why, but she was more worried about getting caught and decided to drop it for now.
The two walked down the hallway in silence. Nagisa would frequently have the two of them stop and hide whenever she heard an irregular noise. She also stopped before each corner and took a look down the corridor, then checked behind her to make sure no one was behind them before looking at Tsubomi to make sure she was alright. The first year was surprised by how serious Nagisa was taking this and felt her fear of getting caught disappear. Tsubomi wasn't sure if Nagisa was doing this because she wanted to play the role of a ninja, or if Nagisa was doing it because Tsubomi was clearly worried about getting caught. Although she wouldn't come out and say it, Nagisa was doing it for both reasons.
When they arrived near the stairs that led down to the first floor, Nagisa suddenly pulled Tsubomi around the corner and put a finger on her lips to silence her. It was then that Tsubomi saw Nagisa's bright orange eyes and what seemed to be a line that went perfectly across them. The first year slowly nodded her head before Nagisa poked her head around the corner to watch something. Tsubomi leaned forward as well and focused her vision to try to make out whatever Nagisa was looking for. After a few seconds, she could make out Miator's head sister walking down the corridor with people behind her. Once they were out in the main area where the light from the window made things clearer, she could see Yaya, Hikari, Tamao and Chiyo are following behind her, all four of them looking depressed.
"How did they all get caught?" Nagisa mumbled, shaking her head in disappointment. "I expected Hikari-chan and Chiyo-chan would have trouble, but I thought for sure that Yaya-chan and Tamao would be able to escort them just fine." Nagisa sighed. "Now what?"
"Let's sneak back to my room. If the sister went into your room and saw you weren't there, she would be suspicious of you being there if she came back. She'll probably ask why you weren't there, but I'm sure you would think of something." Tsubomi replied, watching her friends be dragged out to what would probably be a frightening lecture.
"Aww, Tsubomi! I didn't know you cared so much~"
Tsubomi blushed and looked away. "It's only because you were trying hard to keep me out of trouble. That's all." What a tsundere response. Nagisa just smiled and nodded her head, then led the first year back to her room.
When they returned to Tsubomi's room, Nagisa plopped down on Tsubomi's bed. "What a drag. Tamao makes such good tea." Nagisa sighed and stared up at the ceiling.
"Um…Nagisa?" Tsubomi was leaning against the door, looking slightly frustrated as she tried to think of how to word what she wanted to ask. Nagisa sat up. "Um…about your sunglasses…" She couldn't find the right words.
Nagisa leaned back to look at the ceiling again. "Photophobia. My eyes were damaged when I was young, so now I need to wear shades or else I'll be blinded by bright lights. It's inconvenient, but it's not a big deal so you don't need to worry about it." She could hear Tsubomi sigh with relief and couldn't help grinning. "But enough about that…" Nagisa sat up with sudden enthusiasm. "Let's talk about love~"
"Idiot!" Tsubomi threw the pillow from the unused bed at Nagisa, who didn't bother to catch it before it hit her in the face. "W-wha? You were supposed to catch it!"
"Tsubomi is so mean, throwing things at me." She pretended to pout for a moment before tossing the pillow back to the first year. "But seriously, love sure seems complicated, doesn't it?"
"Yeah…" Tsubomi mumbled, hugging the pillow.
"Although this takes complicated to a new level." Nagisa slid back on the bed so her back was against the wall. "You're in love with someone who is in love with someone else who is in love with someone else who doesn't love anyone. It's so unnecessarily complicated."
Tsubomi raised an eyebrow. "You don't think it's weird?"
"What? Your taste in women? I'm not sure why you like someone that teases you, but I'm not here to judge."
"No, that's not what I meant." Tsubomi mumbled.
"If it's about you two being girls, that's really not that weird. If you look around, the people here seem to love that kind of thing. I would think that a straight couple would be considered weird at this school." Partly because there's no guys here anyway. "Or are you talking about the age difference? Three years might seem like a big deal now while we're teenagers, but that won't mean anything in a few years."
"It's two years. I just turned thirteen."
Nagisa grinned. "Well that makes the age thing even less relevant. I don't see any problems with it, other than the problem of trying to get you two together."
"I don't know what I should do. Yaya-sempai doesn't ever take me seriously. If I were to confess to her, she would just turn it into a joke."
"The reason for that is because you always try to act serious, probably. They say that when children try to act like adults, they only look more childish. That's probably the logic behind Yaya-chan teasing you." Or because her reactions are just so cute.
"Are you calling me a child?" Tsubomi half-heartedly glared at her sempai. Too cute.
"I think all of us are just children trying to play as adults." Tsubomi's glare changed to concern, but it didn't seem like Nagisa was going to elaborate any further on that. "I think the first thing you should do is act more casual. You know, try to joke around and whatnot. We're only young once, so you should have as much fun as you can."
"I don't think that will magically fix everything."
"Of course not. If you stop acting seriously; however, she won't treat you like a child as often as she does now. The problem after that is the fact that she likes Hikari-chan. The thing we would want to avoid is Yaya-chan being personally rejected by Hikari-chan. Once that happens, you might be treated like a rebound." Nagisa brought a hand up to her chin and appeared to be thinking deeply.
"Well it's not like we can just convince her that she was never in love in the first place." Tsubomi retorted, feeling a little uncomfortable.
"We can't?" Nagisa tilted her head to the side. "Is she really in love with Hikari-chan?" Tsubomi seemed to stiffen, but it was difficult to tell in the dark. Nagisa shrugged it off and continued. "After all, other than choir, they seem to have almost nothing in common. Yaya-chan is the outgoing, almost tomboyish type while Hikari seems like the weak, princess type. Amane-san seems like the perfect match for Hikari-chan because they fit the whole prince and princess stereotype couple. Yaya-chan, on the other hand, seems like she's more likely to go after a girl like…you. Not trying to put out false hope or anything, but a girl like you that can keep her in line and can take a joke seems more like her type." She didn't continue when she saw that even Tsubomi's ears were turning red.
"I think we should go to sleep. It's getting pretty late and we might wake the people in the next room if we talk too long." Nagisa expected Tsubomi to be nervous, but was surprised to see her smiling. I guess I ended up giving her some kind of hope after all.
"Sure thing." The two of them swapped beds and laid in silence for a while.
"Hey, Nagisa. Have you ever been in love?" Tsubomi asked after a few minutes. There was an awkward silence that followed before Nagisa answered.
"No. I can honestly say I've never been in love before. I thought I might have been at one time, but I was wrong. Well, it was more like I was trying to convince myself that I was. I guess I'm a bit jealous of people like you that have fallen in love. Seeing it makes me want to do what I can to support it."
"Is that why you want to help me?"
"Even if what I said wasn't true, I would still want to help because you're my friend. Seeing my friends happy makes me happy." Nagisa turned her head when she heard Tsubomi's amused laugh.
"You're a good person."
"Be careful. You might inflate my ego."
"Are you alright?" Tsubomi's worried voice asked from behind her. She looked around the unfamiliar room, taking a moment to register that she was not in her own room, but was sitting up on the previously unoccupied bed in Tsubomi's room. Sitting up? She looked down and saw the sheets were in complete disarray and that she had suddenly jerked up without realizing it. Typical night.
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure? You were tossing and turning all night and you suddenly screamed." I screamed? "You looked like you were having a nightmare. I tried to wake you up but…" Tsubomi's voice trailed off as she rubbed the side of her face.
"I hit you? No way. I'm so sorry, Tsubomi!"
"It's fine. You were asleep and I kind of expected it to happen with how much you were flailing around. It must have been an awful dream." I know I flail around, but do I scream every morning as well? Why didn't Tamao ever say anything? Tsubomi knew she was right when Nagisa looked away. Nagisa had subconsciously wrapped a hand around her wrist without realizing it, and mentally slapped herself when she saw what she was doing. To her surprise, Tsubomi had gotten up when she wasn't watching and slid the wristband on her arm before she could stop her. There wasn't a gasp of surprise like she expected. "So it was that kind of dream, Nagisa?" Tsubomi sounded generally concerned, but she didn't know her long enough to get into it.
"It was a dream about something that happened to me before. I'd rather not talk about it if that's fine with you." Nagisa didn't look up and silently cursed to herself for letting yet another person see her scar.
"I won't ask if you don't want to talk about it. We've only just met yesterday, so even if we're friends, I can understand it being way too soon to talk about something like that."
"Thanks." Nagisa decided to change the subject. She stood on her feet, slid her band back in place, and grinned at Tsubomi. "It's morning."
"Uh…yeah, it is." Tsubomi raised an eyebrow.
"That means that someone is most likely going to see me coming out of your room since I didn't sneak out before sunrise. I wonder what people will think." She knew her topic change plan was successful when the first year's face suddenly lit up like a stop light.
"Idiot!" She turned away from Nagisa and shook her head in embarrassment.
"People are going to hear you~"
"Sh-shut up!" Nagisa laughed, and after a moment, Tsubomi laughed as well.
After their moment of laughter, Tsubomi changed and walked over to her door and opened it. She popped her head into the hall and looked back and forth. "It's clear." She stepped out into the hall with Nagisa following behind her, and then shut the door. Tsubomi sighed in relief before nearly jumping out of her skin when a group of students walked around the corner.
"Good morning, Nagisa-sama, Tsubomi-chan." The two turned to face three third year girls from Spica. Nagisa greeted them with a cheerful 'Yo!' after recognizing them as girls she met randomly during lunch one day. Tsubomi only waved nervously at them, worried that they might have been caught.
"Nagisa-sama, why are you still in your pajamas?" One of them asked with the two next to her giggling.
"Despite always waking up early, I am so not a morning person. I'm rather lazy, honestly. I'm surprised I can force myself to put on that uniform every morning." She looked like she suddenly realized something and looked down at her clothes. "Well, almost every morning." The three girls giggled at Nagisa's expense. "More importantly…" She turned and faced the three of them, crossing her arms and sticking her lower lip out in a pout. "Stop with the 'sama' thing. It sounds so wrong."
"No way~" The three replied in unison, apparently anticipating Nagisa would say that eventually. They waved goodbye as they walked down the hall, laughing more when Nagisa shook her fist at them. The three turned around and the one of the three that seemed the most shy spoke up.
"About those rumors going around that make you sound like a pervert…" There's more than one? "We don't believe them. No one does. We all know you're a good person, Nagisa-sama."
Nagisa gave them a brilliant smile. "Thanks for having faith in me!"
As the three left, Tsubomi had to raise her jaw off the floor. "You really are quite popular, aren't you?"
"I'm not sure if 'popular' is the right term. Perhaps 'notorious'?"
"Are you sure that's not your ego talking?"
Nagisa turned to Tsubomi with a cheerful smile plastered on her face. "Perhaps. More importantly, let's go check on our fallen comrades."
"Grr…" Nagisa growled in annoyance and she knocked on Yaya and Hikari's door for the sixth time. "Wake up, damn it!" She shouted.
"It's not like either of them to be out and about this early on a Sunday. Hikari-chan might leave to go see Amane-san, but she would usually be back by now." Tsubomi mumbled. Nagisa wasn't sure if the first year was speaking to her or talking to herself.
"You're pretty loud this morning, Nagisa." An easily recognizable voice spoke up. Nagisa turned to face the approaching Shizuma. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Tsubomi suddenly become nervous and quickly bow her head.
"Hey there, Shizuma. I thought I would never see you after you got dragged off to do paperwork." Nagisa grinned when Shizuma's expression became grim.
Shizuma placed her hands on Nagisa's shoulders. "Never ever run for student council. The paperwork never ends. I can't feel my hands."
Nagisa almost felt bad for her. She pats the older woman on the shoulders. "There, there."
"Um…" Tsubomi looked back and forth between the two of them. "You two really are friends, huh? I had heard the rumors, but rumors are pretty stupid so I ignored them."
"Just another reason why Tsubomi is so great~" Nagisa replied, causing the first year to respond with a blush.
"A friend of yours? I should introduce my-" Nagisa grabbed Shizuma's hand as it reached out towards Tsubomi.
"Easy there, Shizuma." Nagisa spoke in a polite tone with a sweet smile, but the venom in her words was obvious to both of them. "I would appreciate it if you didn't molest my kouhai."
"M-m-molest?" Tsubomi's blush flared brighter and she took a step back.
Shizuma frowned. "How am I supposed to make a good impression if you say things like that?" She rubbed her arm when Nagisa let her go, more for emphasis than anything.
"That look in your eyes is unmistakable." She looked back to Tsubomi. "You remember how she grabbed me on the dinner the night I transferred in, right? She was gonna do that to you. She'd probably do more, knowing her." And now Tsubomi's entire face plus her ears are red. No wonder Yaya teases her. It's so cute.
"You're ruining my public image."
"I think any damage to your image is self-inflicted."
"You two are arguing like sisters." Tsubomi spoke up after recovering from her spazzing out.
"Hey!" They both shouted in unison, causing the pinkette to laugh.
"So what were you doing? They could hear someone banging on a door from downstairs." Shizuma asked to change the subject.
"We've been trying to get the two in this room to wake up, but they're probably not even in there. We were going to make fun of those two and Tamao for getting in trouble yesterday." Nagisa answered.
"I think I saw them earlier. I don't know exactly who you're looking for, but I saw Sister Hamasaka take Tamao-san, two girls around the same age, and a first year to the church. They were all dressed in those maid aprons."
Nagisa and Tsubomi looked at each other and Nagisa had to hold back a laugh. "Do you think they're being punished by cleaning the church?" Tsubomi asked.
"It looks like it. Isn't that a bit extreme just for catching them after lights out?"
"The sister has always been strict." Shizuma commented.
"Yet you never seem to get in trouble." Nagisa retorted.
"I'm just good at escaping." Shizuma shrugged.
Nagisa shook her head. "Right. Well, thanks for the tip." Nagisa grabbed Tsubomi's hand and was about to lead her down the hall before Shizuma stopped her.
"Miyuki will be returning this evening." She said, grinning a little. It wasn't her usual grin, so Nagisa figured something good must have happened.
"Already? She sure likes to take care of things quickly, doesn't she?" Shizuma nodded her head.
"We'll meet in her room tonight." Shizuma added before walking off. I wonder how it went.
After returning to her room to change out of her pajamas and into her school outfit, Nagisa and Tsubomi headed out to the church.
"This is great, isn't it, Tsubomi?" Nagisa spoke up on the way, hiding her mischievous grin.
"What's great? That we won that little game?" The pinkette asked, not sensing what Nagisa was really thinking.
"Well there is that, but I was referring to you getting to see Yaya-chan in an apron."
"Ah! I hadn't thought of that!" Tsubomi blushed slightly, and Nagisa could swear she saw a smile tugging at the edge of the younger girl's lips.
"Tsubomi is a pervert." Nagisa looked away to hide her grin.
"I-I am not!" Tsubomi nearly shouted before finally realizing what Nagisa was doing. "Besides, aren't you thinking about seeing Tamao-sempai in an apron?"
"Geh!" I hadn't thought of that! Nagisa nearly tripped over her own feet, causing Tsubomi to laugh. "You learn well, my apprentice."
"Well you said last night that I shouldn't take everything so seriously, and it's good advice to take when I hang around people like you and Yaya-sempai."
"Which one of us is worse?"
"You are."
"Pfft." Nagisa crossed her arms and looked away. "You're only saying that because you're not in love with me." The conversation died down after that once they reached the church. Finding no one of interest in the chapel, they walked around until they reached the tower that led up to the bell. When they walked in through the open door, they saw the head sister lecturing the four girls in maid aprons. Tsubomi put her hand over Nagisa's mouth to prevent her from laughing. Smart girl. I didn't even realize that I was about to laugh.
The two of them quietly walked to the staircase behind the sister, grinning at the temporary maids once they came into their vision.
"Oh? Have you two come to help us?" Yaya asked to make their presence known to the sister.
"Not at all." Nagisa replied, sliding her finger along the rail and gaping at the amount of dust that was now on her finger.
"Why were you not in your room last night, Aoi-san?" Sister Hamasaka asked, not sharing the same amusement in her question that Yaya did.
"She was in my room last night." Tsubomi answered, sliding her finger on the rail as well. Her eyes widened when she discovered just how thick the dust was.
"That's right. I went to her room yesterday to tell her about what we discussed yesterday. Tsubomi-chan, being the ambitious girl that she is, wanted to get started right away. We ended up working until sometime past curfew."
"I didn't want her to get in trouble for walking around after lights out, and because no one else shares a room with me, I asked her to just stay in my room and use the empty bed." Tsubomi looked slightly embarrassed. Perhaps she's not used to bullshitting like I am? She's pretty good at it. I'm a bad influence on her, aren't I?
"I see. If that's all it is, then that's fine. Make sure not to do it again."
"Yes ma'am." Tsubomi and Nagisa both replied in unison because they weren't sure which one she was talking to.
"More importantly~" Nagisa held up her dust covered finger for the sister to see. "I don't think this cleaning crew that you mentioned has been doing their job properly. This isn't just a day or week's worth of dust. Something this thick would take over a month to accumulate."
"She's right." Tsubomi looked down at the floor. "The dust is even getting thick on the floor. I'm pretty sure I can make out a few of our footprints. This place has been neglected." We could make dust angels!
The sister looked down at the floor, and then ran her finger on the wooden rail just as they had done before. "Hmm…it seems I should have a talk with them, but that won't stop these four from receiving their punishment." Her eyes narrowed as she looked back at Nagisa and Tsubomi, who both looked away nervously.
"She caught us." Nagisa mumbled. She expected some sort of lecture, but the sister just left the room, staring at her finger. "Perhaps she angrier at the maids, rather than us." Nagisa shrugged.
"Did you come to make fun of us?" Tamao asked with a frown after the sister left.
"That depends on how you four got caught." Nagisa replied, noticing Hikari glance at Yaya, clearly not amused.
"Tamao-sama and I were able to return to the room just fine, but…" Chiyo's voice trailed off as she looked at Yaya as well. Yaya looked away from them both.
"We managed to get to the room just fine." Hikari started. "We would have been fine, but Yaya decided to bang on the door rather than tap it. Once Chiyo-chan opened the door, the head sister came out from behind the corner and caught us."
Nagisa tried to hold her laugh in, but when Tsubomi started giggling, she couldn't hold it in and let out a hearty laugh. "Way to go, idiot." Tsubomi taunted.
Yaya frowned and crossed her arms. "Hmph. I bet you had a lovely night alone in the dark with Nagisa-chan, didn't you?"
"Yes, I slept just fine last night after we won the game, maid-sempai." Tsubomi replied with a cheerful smile, clearly enjoying herself. Yaya's arms lowered from shock. She had expected the younger girl to get flustered and call her an idiot, not to come up with a retort of her own.
"Damn." Nagisa mumbled, looking up. "Isn't this a bit cruel for just being caught after hours? This place is huge."
"She wants us to clean every step." Tamao sounded exhausted already from just looking at all the steps.
"How the hell are you supposed to finish something like that?" She looked over and saw Chiyo already starting. "Uh…Chiyo-chan?" She stopped and looked up at Nagisa. "It's better to start at the top and work your way down, otherwise you'll be knocking dust onto steps you've already cleaned."
"Ah. Good idea." Chiyo took her bucket and mop and ran up the stairs, surprisingly not tripping along the way. The other three temp maids followed behind her.
"Do you guys want some help?" Nagisa offered.
"No way. The winners shouldn't take pity on the losers." Yaya replied, carrying a mop lazily on her shoulders.
"Aren't you the only real loser here?" Nagisa teased, receiving a glare from the raven-haired girl. That glare looks so…familiar?
Nagisa and Tsubomi looked at each other and shrugged. A smirk from our protagonist made the pinkette worried. "I guess I get the spend the whole day with Tsubomi~"
"Idiot!"
"Ah! It makes sense now!" Tsubomi shouted ecstatically as she scribbled fiercely on the sheet of paper in front of her. Nagisa was watching over her shoulder with some amusement.
"Good job, Tsubomi. I knew you could figure it out." Nagisa said, pulling the girl into a hug from behind while looking down and studying what she wrote. "You're such a smart girl."
"I-I'm not, really. You're just a good teacher." Tsubomi replied, too excited about finally understanding what her class had already gone through.
"Flattery will get you nowhere." Nowhere since I'm already hugging her, anyway.
"It's true. That annoying teacher did a horrible job explaining all of this. I didn't understand a word she was saying. It was like she was speaking French with a German accent or something."
"I understand how you feel. I don't understand anything my French teacher says, like she was speaking French with a French accent." Tsubomi had already realized how much Nagisa detested French when she started the tutoring French by saying "the best part about English is that it's not French."
"I'm serious. You made everything so simple and easy to understand. There's a test next week and I probably would have failed it if it weren't for this. I think you would make a great teacher if you went for it."
"I don't think that would be a good idea." Nagisa tapped her chin in thought. "If they came up to me with cute, confused looks on their faces, I'd just want to hug them and tell them everything will be okay." Tsubomi laughed nervously and looked off to the side, knowing Nagisa was being honest because she did just that to her less than an hour ago.
"You're kind of like the Etoile…"
Nagisa jumped back, pretending to be shocked. "No way! I just have an appreciation for all things that are cute, lovely, or adorable. Besides, I wouldn't go past hugging them." Nagisa crossed her arms and frowned.
"So, if you're not going to be a teacher, what do you plan to be in the future?" What an adult-like question.
"I'm not really sure. My grandfather always talked about me taking over his company some day, but he retired last year, so I haven't really given it any thought. I might do something related to acting because I'm so awesome at it." I've always got a career as a ninja.
"It looks like I've inflated someone's ego." The younger girl seemed amused. "Oh yeah, speaking of the Etoile, aren't you supposed to meet with her?" Tsubomi pointed to the clock.
"Wow, we've been at it for a while, haven't we? Are you going to be alright by yourself?" Nagisa asked, receiving a nod and Tsubomi shooing her with her hand.
"Go on. I can handle the rest on my own now."
Nagisa smiled and ran out the door, calling out a 'see you later' as she left. She ran down the hall, twirling around random students that she nearly collided with. It had only been a few days since Miyuki left but Nagisa was eager to hear how things went. She found herself in front of Miyuki's door in what felt like record time before simply barging in, too impatient to knock and wait. "Welcome back, Miyuki!"
Nagisa stopped dead in her tracks as the view in front of her slowly registered in her mind. Miyuki and Shizuma were both on Miyuki's bed, but not sitting on it like usually. Oh no, not at all. Miyuki was laying on her back with Shizuma sitting over her on her hands and knees. What was most shocking was that she had walked in on them in a middle of a kiss. Not a kiss on the cheek, but a full on passionate blend of lips and tongues.
The two kissing girls pulled away and three of them stared at each other in an awkward silence. Nagisa opened her mouth to say something, but remembered that she left the door open. She quickly turned around and shut it, then stood in the same place she was frozen at just a moment ago. She pointed accusingly at the two seniors and exclaimed "I knew it! Oh, you two would beat around the bush so much but I knew this would eventually happen!" Nagisa became giddy with excitement after seeing two of her friends finally hook up like this. An awkward moment to walk in on, but what it implied made her happy. "I guess I kind of cockblocked you guys, huh? No, wait. What's the female version of that? Clap trap? No wait, that's a robot." She could see both of them blushing, but Shizuma quickly burst into laughter, Miyuki quickly following.
"I honestly wasn't expecting that to be your reaction. It's rather refreshing." Miyuki said in amusement as the two climbed off the bed, much to Shizuma's disappointment.
"Don't look so depressed, Shizuma. You can jump her bones later." Nagisa grinned and holy hell she was not used to seeing both Miyuki and Shizuma blushing at the same time. What a cute love~ "At least you two don't have to pretend you don't have feelings for each other anymore. I was half tempted to kiss one of you to make the other jealous so you can stop pretending you don't know how the other felt. Seriously."
"You know what would have happened if you kissed Miyuki, right?" Shizuma asked with a dark, almost sinister smile.
"Of course. I've already fought you twice…sort of. I'd say it would be worth it."
"Masochist."
"Bite me."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Damn it." Nagisa slapped her forehead. "I walked right into that."
"It's good to see you two still get along just fine." Miyuki commented, preparing some tea.
"Of course. Has Shizuma complained about the endless paperwork yet?" Nagisa smiled.
"Honestly, how are your hands not coated in blisters by now? It's torture." Shizuma frowned, looking at her poor, delicate hands. At least they were in her eyes.
"I never knew my Shizuma was so frail." Miyuki said as she placed the tea cups down. Nagisa waited for all three cups to be on the table before grinning.
"Your Shizuma? Since when did you get so bold? I'm not even teasing you this time." Nagisa mused. Miyuki flushed red and looked away from them both. Shizuma gave her that damn grin and pulled her onto her lap. Nagisa sighed and shook her head. "I am going to tease this cute new couple relentlessly." Nagisa mumbled to herself, looking out the window and trying not to listen to the sound of kissing coming from the opposite side of the table.
After a quick eternity, the new lovebirds finally settled down. "So, are you going to share what happened or do you just want to keep making out? I've got delicious tea, so I don't care either way."
"Make out." Shizuma answered promptly, barely waiting for Nagisa to finish speaking.
Nagisa rolled her eyes. "You have all night for that."
"We would already be done if someone hadn't suddenly come in." Shizuma retorted.
"Like anyone would ever believe you'd say you were done." The older woman replied with a smirk.
Miyuki sighed. "Fine, I'll speak. Just stop it already. Do you want the long or short version?"
"I think you better go with the short version. I don't think Shizuma can keep her hands to herself long enough for the long one. Based on how you don't push her away, you probably can't wait that long either." Nagisa looked down at the clasped hands of the two lovers and shook her head. "Ah, to be young and in love~"
"That doesn't make any sense when it comes from you, kouhai." Nagisa innocently ignored Shizuma's comment, electing to focus her attention on the suddenly interesting design of the teacup she was holding.
Miyuki cleared her throat, ignoring both of their banter. "I probably would have come back yesterday, but I decided to play innocent at first to see if they were willing to tell me on their own. I would ask innocent sounding questions like asking if they had heard from his family recently. I was hoping they would give me an honest answer, but I guess that was too much to ask for. After beating around the bush for a while, trying to get them to realize that I was looking for the truth, I decided to just say it straight out.
I confronted them the next morning, saying that I had heard that he had been arrested. I didn't want to give away what I knew yet because I was still hoping they would speak up, but they didn't. They flat out denied that someone like him getting arrested was even plausible." Miyuki stopped speaking and took a sip of tea.
"I probably would have thrown a chair. What did you do?" Nagisa inquired.
"Although I didn't throw any furniture, I still lost it. I recall shouting things like 'How could you lie to my face?' and 'Do you think I would have brought it up if I didn't already know he was a rapist?' I almost struck my mother when she said he was 'falsely accused by some whore', as she worded it."
"No offense, but I don't like your mother." Nagisa commented, staring at her tea.
"I wouldn't either, if I was you." Miyuki looked at her tea as well. "When I asked them about the point you brought up, I actually slapped my father." That got Nagisa and Shizuma to both turn their heads to her. "I asked him if he actually planned to wait until he was out of prison to have me marry him, and he said that he had already found a better suitor for me but didn't know when to tell me. Apparently, he had already found one over five months ago. It pissed me off."
"Shall I teach you proper chair-throwing techniques?" Nagisa was pissed off just from hearing it, but she still tried to make a joke to lighten Miyuki's mood slightly, which seemed to do the trick.
"No need. I have Shizuma to throw chairs for me." Miyuki said, looking at Shizuma with an innocent smile.
"I'd rather just throw the person." Shizuma replied with a shrug.
"So what did you do when he pissed you off?" Nagisa asked, rolling her eyes at the glances the older women were giving each other.
"I told him that he clearly wasn't capable of finding an appropriate person for me to marry, so I would find a person that I loved on my own, whether he accepted it or not." Miyuki smirked. "I had always gone along with whatever they had decided until now, so they were both caught off guard when I said it. We probably glared at each other for ten minutes before he caved in."
"And that's when you came back here and started making out with miss popularity over here." Nagisa tilted her head to point at Shizuma.
"We were having such fun too, until someone decided to make their grand entrance." Shizuma said, trying to sound annoyed which didn't really work when they all knew she found it amusing.
"Right." Nagisa rolled her eyes again. "Anyway, I'm happy for you, Miyuki. Just make sure to lock your doors after I leave. You wouldn't want anyone to come in to investigate the strange noises that will inevitably come from this room, would you?" Miyuki nearly dropped her cup; her face flushed a deep red as if she had just burned it. "Young love~" Nagisa ducked under the pillow Miyuki threw at her before standing up. "I'll leave you two love birds to your own discretion." She said as she opened the door. "Have fun~" She shut the door before another pillow could hit her.
Nagisa stared silently at the door for a moment, feeling something she couldn't recognize. She was certainly happy for the two of them, but something felt off. Am I…jealous?
Author's Note: And there's your first couple! We start the love off with a ShizumaxMiyuki pairing. I know some of you were hoping for a ShizumaxNagisa pairing, and while they have similar personalities in some respect, they would not make a good pair in this story. Nagisa is currently unable to go anywhere past hugging someone, because she's afraid of getting too close or intimate with someone after being raped. Nagisa doesn't even consider hugging or holding hands intimate and thinks of it more as something between friends. Shizuma, on the other hand, is someone who can be much more intimate with someone she's not even dating. That kind of intimate relationship would only cause Nagisa to push Shizuma away, and it just wouldn't work.
This chapter was longer than I had expected it to be. Over 10,000 words before the A/N. I was originally planning to cut the chapter after Nagisa spent the night in Tsubomi's room, but I promised that I would reveal at least one couple by chapter ten, so here it is.
Now, I bet you're wondering who the other pairings will be? The only one I know I'm sticking with other than ShizumaxMiyuki will be HikarixAmane, just because there's no reason for me to change it. I'm honestly not sure who I want to pair Nagisa with at this point. Going by the story so far, Tamao could either be considered a love interest or simply the best friend, but she would make the most sense to pair with her. The other person I'm considering is actually Tsubomi, because I think it would be an interesting pair that I haven't seen before, and Tsubomi is one of my favorite characters. She's so cute~. The reason Nagisa won't be paired with Yaya is the same as why she isn't with Shizuma.
And now to reply to your reviews!
Artful Lounger – That's definitely an amusing scene to consider. I'm not sure if poor little Chiyo could handle it.
the cold raven – Yes, yay yuri. A sentiment I think we can all agree on. I hope you're not too disappointed by it not being a ShizuNagi story
KittyAttack – Smacked with a seat belt seems so anti-climactic though! Does the rape thing make my story another statistic? I had considered pairing her with Yaya because of their similarities, but they will be connected in a different way which I think I'll bring up next chapter. Maybe. Don't hold me to it.
Obsidian and Cobalt – Anything moe can exist if it's Tsubomi! I'm sorry if I made you think. It's not something I usually do, honestly. Thinking is overrated.
neurele – Rumors about Nagisa and Shizuma have been spread the moment the two of them met at the first dinner on Nagisa's transfer in. It's been hinted that more have spread whenever the two are seen together, because every school has gossip queens. Every. Single. School. Ever. Twitch. I hope you stay hooked!
romancejunkie – The full story of her past will all be told at once the next time she explains it. Depending on who I pair Nagisa up with will determine when it gets written. I'm not sure how long that will be though. After all, I've only gone through like seven episodes of the anime and things are just getting started. Please bear (or is it bare?) with me through the sadism.
Joy – There's your pairings…mostly. Sorta.
Shizmaring – I think I just disappointed you.