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Dissonance

Well…this is embarrassing…

When Shizuka came to, she found herself staring at the ceiling of the school's infirmary.

"Kagami-san?"

Otori Choutarou's visage came into focus. A mixture of relief and concern swirled in his chocolate coloured eyes. The silver haired boy asked tentatively, "H-How are you feeling?"

…She stared at his expression that was wrought with genuine worry.

"…Who are you?" she asked.

"Eh-" Otori's eyes flashed wide. "Ehhh!?" That was right before he discovered her chuckling at his expense.

…

…His entire posture slumped forward in relief. "Ah, geez…" he murmured in defeat.

"Sorry, sorry." Even his sulking expression was too cute. At the very least, it seemed that his tension had left him. "I won't do it again," she promised. Slowly, she sat herself up. "…Were you with me this entire time?"

Before he had the chance to answer, the partition screen slid over to one side. "That he was~" a redhead female in a nurse uniform sang. "Ah, it was only for fifteen minutes though. But, you should've seen him; carrying you in like a knight."

"Eh?" Otori startled, stammering bashfully, "No, I-…"

Laughing teasingly, the nurse pushed him in the direction of the door. "Well, since the princess is awake now, you should return to your class, young man."

"U-Um…" Throwing an apologetic smile over his shoulder, the silvery haired boy said, "Kagami-san, I will see you later."

After shutting the door firmly, the nurse turned to her.

"Well, Kagami, how do you feel?" the young woman asked her. Long red curls, shapely hips, red lips. She reminded Shizuka of someone who couldn't easily come to mind. Until she noticed the nametag on her uniform coat.

Katsuji.

"You best start taking things easy," the nurse told her, folding her arms under her full breasts. "There's no other reasonable explanation: you just collapsed from accumulated stress."

"…Stress?" Shizuka asked incredulously, sliding her legs off the bed. That was a word seldom in her vocabulary. Just imagine how her mother would react upon being told such a ridiculous excuse…

"Kagami Shizuka, Class F, transfer student, huh?" The nurse leafed through her record, explaining, "It is human psychology to deal with change and adaptation as stressors. Coupled with inadequate diet and rest, you'll find unexpected consequences."

The red haired woman clapped close her file. "I'm sending you home for the day. Classes are almost done anyway. Ah, but I should still let your guardians know. Your mother is in Paris, no?" The nurse picked up the phone on her desk. "Let's see…who's your acting guardian here?" She browsed through the pages of the file again.

If she made that call…her mother would definitely find out.

"I'll call her," Shizuka said. "After all, the lady only speaks French." When she received the phone, she punched in the number to her mother's secretary instead.

"C'est Janette," a familiar voice answered after a few long rings, "Que puis-je faire pour vous?"

"It's Shizuka," Shizuka replied.

"Mademosielle Shizuka? It is six in the morning. Is something the matter?"

"Ah, well…"

The door to the infirmary slid open.

"Atobe?" the school nurse asked upon seeing whose form was in the doorway. "What business brings you here?"

"Ahn?" Atobe responded with an arrogant lift of his chin. "I can't pay my own manager a visit when I've heard she collapsed? Hmph." He allowed himself in. Kabaji followed, nodding to the nurse.

"Allo? Shizuka?"

"Ah, sorry," Shizuka returned her attention to the call. "It seems that a troublesome guy has appeared."

"Ho…?" She glanced up at the dare found in his voice. Atobe approached her bed in only a few strides, his sharp blue eyes carrying unmistakable affront. "Just who is a troublesome guy, ahn?"

She froze.

When she spoke again, she shielded the receiver and said quietly, "It seems that my school nurse wants authorization to release me early."

"Oh? Is something the matter, Mademoiselle Shizuka?"

"It's a small matter," Shizuka replied. She couldn't let her mother find out that she did something as dramatic as fainting in school. "Just feeling unwell."

"Ah? You know your mother isn't going to accept a reason like that. What exactly did the nurse say?"

What should she say? A cold? Fever? She glanced over at her side where Atobe stood listening impassively. How much of her conversation would he be able to understand?

"For goodness' sake," Atobe Keigo stated upon catching her eyes, "What a handful. You can't even state something this simple clearly?"

Before she realized his intentions, the king of Hyoutei Academy snatched the wireless receiver in her hand, speaking into it in fluent French. "Shizuka's guardian? I recon collapsing in the hallway in broad daylight is enough reason to warrant the school making exceptions in her case, is it not?" he asked in a business-like tone.

She grabbed his arm below the shoulder, but it did little to budge his hardened muscles. "Atobe-!" she warned impetuously.

"Ahn? Who might I be? I am the captain of the tennis club of which she-"

He was cut off in the rudest possible way. In three rapid, successive moves, Kagami Shizuka knocked him down to the floor a pinning hold, her elbow pressing against his collarbone. "Jannette," she said into the receiver, "I'll call you back."

…Yes, even as she stared down at his insulted expression and the vengeful promise in his powerful blue eyes, she was convinced that there was one other person she was less willing to offend.

"K-Kagami!?" the nurse exclaimed in shock, as though she was about to witness murder.

"I'll give you to the count of three," Atobe Keigo said, appearing every bit the dictator he was even with his hair splayed out beneath him. "One."

Kabaji grabbed her arm, helping her stand.

"Nurse," the brunette said. "I'll be returning to class, after all."

"Eh? But-" The school nurse was quick to protest, but Shizuka was quicker out the door.

Only to have it slide open a moment later.

"Hold it right there." Atobe's voice demanded her compliance. He stepped into the hall, folding his arms. On his aristocratic features, an impenetrable expression. "Ho? It's the first time I've seen someone knock over their benefactor without even an apology," he said in that regal drawl of his.

To which Shizuka replied levelly, "And I have stated that I will not say anything I do not mean."

His head inclining downwards, Atobe pressed his fingers to his eye region. "Ahn? Are you even aware of who you're speaking to right now!?"

Yes, thought Shizuka. The person who had just got her into a world of trouble. She turned from him.

"I said freeze!"

…What was this? She stopped in mid-stride. Not because of what he said, but because she couldn't move.

…Ice? No…was she actually starting to hallucinate…?

"You're in no condition to last another three hours," Atobe said from his position behind.

Shizuka glanced back over her shoulder. She gave a soft sigh. "Don't worry. I understand my own limits better than anyone else."

"Ahn?" He arched a haughty eyebrow. "You want to ruin this Ore-sama's reputation by demonstrating that I have overworked you until you've collapsed?"

"How-"

He dismissed her retort with a scoff. His dark, hawk-like gaze on her was unrelenting. "I don't want to see you at practice today, and that is final."

…By then she had started to understand the subtle differences between when he was being extravagant, and when he was actually serious. Right now, he was undoubtedly serious.

Shizuka reached into her pocket, drawing out the ring of keys that had been assigned to her as club manager. "Here." She tossed it back to him. He promptly caught it. "In case you need them," she said. "I ask that you do not enter the clubroom on the second floor."

"Ho…?" Naturally, Atobe's curiosity was piqued. These were all originally under his ownership, after all. "Is there something in that clubroom?"

Shizuka gave a tight smile. "Though I won't go as far as to draw up a non-disclosure agreement," she told him, "know that the day anyone aside from me steps foot into that room will be the day I permanently resign from the club."

"What…?" The confession did no less than put an expression of shock into his widened eyes. It was the first time she had seen Atobe with such a reaction.

"Exactly what I said," Shizuka confirmed. She held his gaze. "Permit this selfish request of mine. I will offer no explanation."

…

Slowly, as though coming to terms with an unpleasant revelation, Shizuka watched as Atobe's entire demeanor harden. "…I see." He reminded her of his attitude toward her during their first wrongful meeting. "Looks like I misjudged you."

"Kabaji," he looked beside him and said. His tall friend nodded his understanding.

Atobe said nothing else when he swept past her on his way. Kabaji, however, nodded for her to follow.

She followed in what could be described as tense silence.

At the exit to the building, Kabaji awaited her with a change of shoes.

"Huh…?" Shizuka looked down and recognized them. "You retrieved my outdoor shoes from my locker…?"

"Usu." He nodded solemnly.

…Speaking of which…was that also her schoolbag that he was carrying?

She fought down the question.

The shiny black limousine from last time pulled up just as they reached the school gates. As the black tinted window rolled down, Atobe leaned down and told his chauffeur, "Send her directly home."

Shizuka looked at him in surprise as the limousine moved up, and Kabaji got the door for her.

His body half-turned, Atobe only stared back with an impassive face.

…She got the impression that this was one of those times when it was a waste of energy going up against him.

Shizuka got in the backseat, murmuring a thanks when Kabaji passed her schoolbag to her.

The intercom came on when the door closed. "Where is your residence, Miss?"

The brunette stared outside the window.

…

An overbearing dictator, or was his pompousness a cover for something else? ...She couldn't make up her mind.

Shizuka lay on her bed, unable to relax. She was expecting a call at any moment now, and that dread had prevented her from doing anything productive in the past few hours.

She had a few welcome distractions, though.

Every once a while, her club phone's screen had lit up with a new message sent by members of the boys' tennis club who had noticed her absence at afternoon practice.

Among them:

Sent by Otori,

(Kagami-san, have you gone home safely? I have explained things properly to our art teacher, so please rest easily.)

Otori, again,

(Ah, um, have I interrupted your rest with that previous text message?

…I'm sorry.)

…Otori, too cute.

Sent by Shishido,

(Manager, I heard it all from Choutarou. Your earnestness in club activities is super, but don't overdo it for our sake.

Oh, and if I ever encounter that senseless bastard, I'll plummet him for you.)

…Huh? Otori, what exactly have you told him?

Sent by Oshitari,

(There are medical experts among members of my family. I'll see to it that I'll have something of use to you by tomorrow.

My regards to you, my dear lady.)

'No,' Shizuka had started to type, 'you needn't go through all that trouble'. The phone then vibrated with the advent of a new message.

Sent by Mukahi, with emoticons threaded throughout his message,

(What's this I hear about you fainting out of the blue? Is that why you weren't at practice this afternoon? Seriously? Get well soon! Let me know if you need anything, alright?

By the way, any idea what's up with Atobe? He'd been in a foul mood throughout practice.)

…

The phone rang next to her bed, interrupting her reverie.

Shizuka picked it up on the second ring. "Yes, Kagami speaking."

"Shizuka."

Her mother was the type to never yell, never hit. The woman considered it beneath her propriety. But, that didn't mean Shizuka couldn't recognize her the anger from the tone.

"Good afternoon, Mother."

"I only permitted you to attend a school overseas because you had claimed you can take care of yourself."

"About that-" Shizuka tried to explain.

"And what is this I hear about you being in a tennis club?"

…Shizuka held her tongue, knowing it was futile.

"If you have that time, you should have joined an art club. Are you truly serious about what you had wanted?"

…

"I can hazard a guess at what truly happened back then. Shizuka, do you intend to keep running all your life? The way you are right now," her mother said,

"Cannot defeat Jacques-Pierre."

Shizuka locked the door to the clubroom, sighing inwardly.

It had felt like a long day, excluding the fact that she had remained at school for two hours after club activities.

What her mother had said kept coming around to haunt her.

"Hold it."

En route to the school gates, Shizuka found a blockade awaiting her. She blinked at the unusual sight.

"Year 2, Class F, Kagami Shizuka," they identified her. "We know all about your declination of Sakaki-san's offer to join her competitive dance club."

A few of them stepped forward. "Don't you think your motives are too obvious? You want to stick close to the regulars?"

Ah…this again.

"If you know what's best for you, get away from them immediately!"

Shizuka craned her neck to one side, rubbing at the area where she felt soreness forming.

"Fine."

A ripple of confusion went through the group.

The brunette looked at them seriously and asked, "Then, do you want to take my place?"

If anything, that question seemed to confuse them further.

"Which one of you is going to take my place?" Shizuka repeated deliberately, looking at each of them in turn.

"What are you saying?" one of them asked her as though she were insane.

"I won't simply abandon the responsibilities vested in me as the club manager," Shizuka stated. "If you wish to replace me, you'll have to at least match my standards of performance. I am willing to guide you as my assistant manager until then."

"What?" Exclamations of disbelief, of outrage.

"But, stop doing things like this," Shizuka said confidently. "Underhanded methods will never work. If you want to take my position," she smiled and lifted her hand in beckon, "Come challenge me head-on anytime."

"What? You-" The closest one of them grabbed Shizuka's uniform collar as she tried to slip through. "You think we're just playing around!?"

Flash

All of them looked up, surprised, at the source of that brief, intense light which had illuminated them.

The person lowered his camera from his sharp grey eyes. "Idiots. If you don't want to be caught, don't try to pull anything right underneath the newspaper committee room."

"H-Hiyoshi-kun!?" one of the girls stammered.

Sliding the gap in the window up fully, Hiyoshi Wakashi leapt down from the high window with his camera.

"I have it," he said, flicking up the photo between two fingers. "Incriminating evidence. This will be on the front page of the school newspaper tomorrow. If you don't want to make the situation worse, then scram!"

"That's-we-…" But they knew that they have just been caught by the worst possible person. Among all the regulars of the tennis club, Hiyoshi was the least likely to let an offense slip.

With weighty expressions, the group of girls dispersed.

Shizuka reached and snatched the photo held by him, taking a close look at it.

"Wh-?"

…He actually caught that moment, huh? The moment the girl had angrily grabbed her collar at the time of outburst.

"Oh? This is a bad picture of me."

She brought her fingers to the edge and tore the photo into pieces.

"Hey! What are yo-!?"

"Hiyoshi-kun," Shizuka said with a smile, "You have to go easy on girls." She tucked the pieces into her pocket instead of littering them all over the ground. "Or else you'll never become popular."

"Hah!?" His hand grasped her on her left shoulder. Her grip locked on the crook of his elbow.

As expected of a skilled martial arts practitioner…his fingers had gone straight to the acupoints on her shoulder. Then again, she was pressing the ones on his arm.

Their eyes met, holding the same recognition within.

"…In the world of martial arts," Shizuka said carefully, "law is set by the strongest, no?" She gave a small, tight smile. "You want to settle it between us, today?"

His salient gaze regarded her for a moment longer.

"Hmph." He released his hold first. "Whatever." Hiyoshi turned dismissively from her. "I still have work to finalize."

"Ah. Then, I'll see you tomorrow," Shizuka said.

She looked back after a few paces, finding that he was still in the same spot, gazing up at the open window.

…Don't tell me he wants to go back the way he came.

She paused.

No…it can't be…

"Hiyoshi-kun…" He glanced at her when she made her way back to him. "Is your committee room locked?"

"From the inside," Hiyoshi admitted grudgingly, massaging his forehead with one hand. "The key is on the table."

…So he leapt down to her defense without considering all else?

Oh no… Shizuka thought. That was…unexpectedly cute?

She dropped her bag. "Give me a lift."

"What?" Her demand took Hiyoshi by surprise. The target was nearly twice their height. "There's no way you can-"

Without waiting for confirmation, she leveraged herself from his arm, then his shoulder. "Hey!"

She grabbed the sill of the window. But, as there was no foothold to be found against the wall, she struggled.

"Oh, for-!"

A very exasperated Hiyoshi held up her footing for her, bearing the weight.

"Don't look up," Shizuka said. Who was it that decided girls' uniforms needed to be skirts?

"As if I would! And if you speak of this to anyone," he growled in response.

"Quiet, and give me another boost."

He complied with all due force.

She was in.

"I'm coming around," Hiyoshi yelled up to her.

Shizuka dusted herself off and went to the door.

Photos were laid all over the worktable. Were any of these his?

She unlocked the door, and opened it. It seemed that he hadn't arrived yet.

…

Curiosity drew her over to the worktable. She picked up some of the photographs.

A rounded housecat atop a wall, eyeing a bird on the adjacent wall, and unaware of a curious bird following right behind its tail.

A homeless man on a residential street late in the night, hands spread in mourning over his tipped bottle of beer. His grieving expression was caught right at the exact moment it had occurred.

What were these…?

"…What are you looking at?" Hiyoshi's apprehensive voice interrupted as he came up behind her.

"Well…these…" Shizuka said unsurely.

"Are you going to say that they're too mundane and lack the sensation for the school papers, as well?" Hiyoshi asked in a rhetorical manner. He put down her bag that he had carried in with him.

"They're artistic," she replied. Each of them aroused a certain emotional reaction in its viewer. "You should've been in the photography club instead."

"Hmph." Hiyoshi's gaze landed on the draft of the headline article. "Can't fault you for saying that. The only things that make front page in this academy is anything to do with that megalomaniac king."

'1000 acre Amusement Park commissioned by Atobe Plutocracy scheduled for grand opening on February 14th,' is what it read.

…Wanting to be recognized for work that is distinguished from his peers, huh? Shizuka could understand that.

"I'll take back what I said," the brunette told him. She picked up her bag from the floor. "You never intended to publish that photo, now have you?" Since that was the kind of thing that would be related to Atobe Keigo. He would have gained recognition, but for something he wouldn't have desired.

She shouldn't have been so quick to lecture.

"Ah?" Hiyoshi was nonchalantly tidying his photos. "As if I care."

"Well," containing her smile, Shizuka gave him a backwards wave as she headed for the door. "Work hard."

"Oi."

She looked back at him, raising an eyebrow in question.

Hiyoshi had his eyes shut firmly in vexation.

"Will you hurry and make up with Atobe already? Tch. Just who do you think gets to suffer the consequences?"