Here we are, the Christmas update! Enjoy, and have a great Christmas, or if you don't celebrate it, I hope you are enjoying this holiday time :)

Hana felt like an open book, yet as she walked nobody even gave her a glance. At least, not any more than out of the ordinary for a Reserve Course student in Main Course territory. But even that was lesser than before, and of course it was-today was the day most of the Talent Exchange Participants were meeting for the first time.

Including her.

But for her, it was more than that. It was the day she was meeting the person she currently hated more than any other. Mizuki Teranaga. The name had hung over her like a curse, and though there was a part of her that knew that really, it was her father to blame, and even the school itself, all her feelings had gone towards that one name. Mizuki Teranaga, Mizuki Teranaga, Mizuki Teranaga. She wasn't even in the creative or performing arts-was the universe conspiring against her or something?

Hana didn't know the answer to that, but it definitely felt like it to her, and as she kept walking, looking for the central courtyard with its pretty waterfall, what she did know was that she wasn't sure she'd be able to constrain said hate once she'd laid eyes on this girl. It was all she could think about, such that when she passed the Izuru Kamukura statue and the remaining blocks for the ones that were soon to be made, she didn't even feel the slight swell of excitement that came from remembering that she was going to be involved with those. I hate you, Mizuki Teranaga, I hate you.

There were a small number of people in various spots of the central courtyard when she arrived, including a few sitting around the fountain. Straight in front of her from the direction in which she approached were three giggling Main Course girls, so she went straight past them and looked around at the benches. But when she thought to look at the other side of the fountain, her heart stopped.

Because the red haired girl was there, with the blond haired boy.

Am I dreaming? Hana was rooted to the spot as she stared, at the way they sat, facing each other, heads bowed slightly, murmured conversation reaching her ears in waves of soft, indistinct sound. For a moment, it was like she was back there, watching from a distance with her sketchbook as they stood beneath the willow tree. I….

And then, she turned to look at her. Hana startled, but was then frozen once again as she blinked and blushed, aware that she was being too obvious in her staring. Hurriedly, she scrambled to think of something vaguely normal to say, but the girl just looked at her quizzically.

"Are you alright?"

"I…yeah, I just…" Hana gabbled helplessly before trailing off.

Now the boy looked at her, and her embarrassment doubled. Oh, if only the earth would swallow me up! What was I doing, staring so ope-

"Are you Hana Otsuki?"

Hana's thoughts screeched to a halt, and she gawped at the blond haired boy before remembering her manners.

"I am…why?"

And how do you know my name?

"Oh, excellent." The red haired girl said. "It's good to meet you, Otsuki-san…"

The girl got up and held out her hand, and Hana knew she should shake it, but she could only look at it dumbly as the rest of the red haired girl's words reverberated in her mind.

"…I'm Mizuki Teranaga."

A moment passed, and then another.

"Are you alright?" the red haired girl-no, this is Mizuki Teranaga- asked warily as she withdrew her hand.

"You're Mizuki Teranaga…?" Hana asked in a strained whisper. "You're… Mizuki Teranaga?"

"Yes…." The red haired girl-Mizuki-said warily. "Why."

Hana opened her mouth, even as she knew it was hopelessly stupid to try and explain what she'd felt that day, what she felt about Mizuki Teranaga, even more hopelessly stupid to have been in this situation in the first place. I don't know what to do…what do I do? She closed her mouth again, bit her lip for a moment, tried to get her racing heart and mind under control, then opened her mouth again-

-and promptly burst into tears.

…

Mizuki had not been expecting there to be tears, and so she was thrown off for a moment.

"Is something the matter?" she managed to ask after a moment of simply staring at the shorter girl.

She was ignored, but to be fair, the girl-Hana- seemed to be trying to get herself together, taking deep breaths and roughly wiping at her light blue eyes with the back of her hands, stiffening her posture slightly. Mokomichi silently held out a tissue, which Hana accepted without acknowledgement, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose delicately. Eventually, she seemed to calm down, and though she did not acknowledge her crying in any way, there was something faintly defiant in the cool stare she gave them both.

"We seem to have got off on the wrong foot, somehow," Mizuki soldiered on. "I know we've exchanged names, but let me introduce you to the other Reserve Course student I'm working with-Mokomichi Yamashita, of class 3C. Have you two met?"

"It's possible, but I don't think so. What're your pronouns, Otsuki-chan?"

"Feminine," Otsuki answered, calmly enough. "And yours?"

"I'm using he/him, Teranaga's using her/she like you."

"Yes, that's right." Mizuki nodded. "Now, do you want to go somewhere else to talk, or are you alright here?"

Hana seemed to bristle at that, crossing her arms-which had gradually been relaxing until that point-back tightly again. She bit her lip, and took a breath.

"I'm fine here, thank you." She responded, staring at them both a moment before going to sit next to Mokomichi.

She's distancing herself from me. But why?

"Alright. Well, I do apologise that you're paired with me, I do understand that you were hoping for someone more involved with something creative, but unfortunately that wasn't possible-"

"Teranaga here's on the Student Council," Mokomichi chose this moment to interject. "She had a certain amount of involvement in the pairing process."

"Which I tried to be fair about doing," Mizuki reminded him with a slight glare. "Though you clearly benefited."

"True that." Mokomichi said simply.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Mizuki returned to Hana, who now had something of the deer-in-the-headlights look about her. "Even if you are not involved in a drama or art project as such now, I do have some plans of what we would like to do together, and I do think creativity will be a valuable part of that process."

Hana simply gazed at her, eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"It might help if you told us what those plans were, you know?" Mokomichi said lightly.

"I am aware, Yamashita-kun." Mizuki told him, somewhat frostily. "Besides, you know where I stand already."

"Supposedly." Mokomichi shrugged, though he sounded pretty certain.

Mizuki bit back even more irritation, and turned to Hana.

"I've been attempting to improve the conditions of the Reserve Course for a while now through my philanthropy, but now that I am back as a student again, I'm hoping I'll be able to help in more direct ways, too. Changing attitudes, and other such things."

"What makes you think it won't work?"

Mizuki simply gaped at Hana for a moment, having not expected her to speak at all. She even had to think for a moment to be sure it had actually happened.

"How do you know, if we don't try?"

Something flashed in Hana's eyes, but she simply lowered them demurely and said nothing, angling herself away from Mizuki.

"I'm guessing you're thinking nobody in the main course could possibly actually care, right?"

Mokomichi piped up suddenly, before Mizuki could think of what to say and do next.

Hana looked at him curiously.

"I guess that because honestly, I don't think you're completely wrong. There aren't many who care, really. And even Teranaga here, who was one of us now…well, she left us, and look where she is now. But the fact we're sitting here now has to mean something, I reckon. And aren't you curious too-about the idea that we could actually do something?"

"Nobody would listen to us though," Hana answered. "We're 'talentless', after all. "

"But if you could try?" Mokomichi persisted.

Sensing a softening in Hana, or at least some kind of change, Mizuki jumped in as well:

"You don't believe that about yourself though, do you?"

Hana looked at Mokomichi carefully, then over at Mizuki. Her frown became deeper, but then she tilted her head slightly and considered before she nodded.

"I don't. And I am."

"So, are you willing to join me?" Mizuki asked.

Hana gave a heavy sigh, and then nodded silently.

"Yamashita-kun?"

"Yes, of course."

Mokomichi gave Mizuki a look as he answered, its heaviness made even more so by the breezy lightness of his voice. For a single moment, Mizuki thought she'd felt the companionship that had crept up on her and then disappeared so easily that day in the graveyard, but when she tried to grab at it, it slipped away yet again as Mokomichi broke eye-contact suddenly.

"So, what have you been doing, Teranaga-san?" Hana asked. "So far, that is?"

"Well, I've provided funds for scholarships so that students' can come here on reduced or no fees at all, and I've arranged money for some renovations…"

Mizuki talked through the things she had done, and had planned. She even mentioned the graveyard, though she was cautious as she did so, considering that there were others around them. But as much she didn't want things in that regard to blow up just yet, she felt an odd sense of satisfaction in being defiant in this way. Even just one more student knowing about the existence of this 'demoralising' place, was enough to make the shaky ideal tremble even more. And the more it trembled, the easier change would be.

Eventually, after explaining everything and answering the various questions that Mokomichi and Hana threw at her (more from the former than the latter) she got to the end, and took a breath.

"Well, I think that's enough ground covered for today, all things considered. I think the next meeting should be somewhere more private, so we can talk through actual strategies and steps to take."

"What, like your house?" Mokomichi asked, somewhat deadpan.

He was teasing, but she didn't know what exactly he was poking fun of this time, so she made to reprimand him, when she paused and thought. That would actually work really well…

"Yes, actually. We can have dinner as well. How does tomorrow after school work for you all?"

"Fine by me."

"I…."

"What is it, Otsuki-san?" Mizuki asked.

Hana shifted uncomfortably, but answered.

"I have a meeting then. I'm on the team designing the statues."

"You are? That's cool." Mokomichi said.

"When is that?" Mizuki wanted to know. "Is it after school?"

"2pm-4pm," Hana said cautiously. "We've been given permission to miss the final lesson for it."

"Alright, so…alright, how about this? I'll give you my address and number, then we'll figure out something."

Hana nodded slowly at this, and took out her phone. Mokomichi followed suit, and Mizuki told them the details.

"I live near to you." Hana said as she tapped it in, before looking up at Mizuki wide-eyed.

"Would you be able to come straight from here to mine, then, if we did have a meeting for tomorrow? Unless you prefer to stop off at home first?"

"….I could probably get to your house in 30 minutes, and it's the same from here to home as well." Hana said after a long moment of simply staring back down at her phone.

"Alright, so, evening would be better than straight after school. How about, let's say, 7pm?"

"It should do…"

"Yamashita-kun?"

"It's all the same to me."

"Alright then," Mizuki decided. "Tomorrow at 7pm, we'll have dinner at my house and then we'll get the ball rolling."

…

"Alright," Minah said as she dusted herself off, holding her hand out to Kaneda to help him up. "I think we'll call it a day. Let's get everything away, and then get changed. "

"Gotcha, Kang-sensei!" Kaneda laughed, grabbing onto her hand as she pulled him up.

"Sure thing!"

Her other two students-two second years, a girl called Manaka Takigawa and a boy called Isamu Asai-also helped each other up before going over to her. Kaneda beamed at them, at first seemingly not noticing that he'd held onto Minah's hand even after he was up, but suddenly letting go to rush over fling his arms around their shoulders.

"You did good work today, Takigawa-kouhai, Isamu-kouhai."

"Ah, come off it, Kaneda-sempai." Manaka said, embarrassed.

But Kaneda was undeterred and held them both in a headlock for a moment longer before letting them go-ruffling Isamu's spiky red hair in the process-then doing an odd little twirl before bending by the corner of a mat and picking it up. Minah and the others followed suit, and kept going, and before they knew it they had put everything away, and Kaneda pulled out a sheet of planet stickers he'd somehow managed to hide in his aikido garments, and happily handed them out to each of them. While Isamu declined him (receiving nothing more than a cheery 'Oh, you don't like stickers? Too bad' in response) and Manaka called him weird, Minah accepted hers, though more out of baffled politeness than anything. It had been clear from the moment the tall, athletic boy had walked through the door that he was a somewhat colourful character, but he seemed nice enough. Friendly and happy, particularly with his lowerclassmen. Though she had to admit, she felt a kinship with him from knowing he was also interested in the martial arts, and had been training in one from a young age himself. Even if it wasn't hers, that was still something they had in common.

Of course, that didn't mean he was somehow more favourable than Manaka or Isamu. All three were her students under the Talent Exchange Plan, and as such all three would be treated fairly by her. It's just nice to have that common thread, Minah reflected as she watched Kaneda ramble onto Isamu as they headed to the changing rooms. Perhaps this'll end up being a two-way process, I could learn something from him too.

But even if it doesn't work quite like that, she decided as she and Manaka went into the girls' changing room and Kaneda and Isamu to the boys', I'm glad I'm doing this anyway.

…

"Oi, what you blushing for, Prude Princess?"

"I am not blushing!" Yuna shot back stiffly as she went down the stairs.

"Suuuuuureeeee you aren't, Prudie. What happened, finally actually done it?"

"Of course not, how dare you make such an improper accusation!"

But all she received in response was a laugh as her classmate ran away and joined a group of his friends. She noticed a few other students give her an odd look, but she ignored it. She was well used to the odd looks, and she no longer cared. All she cared about was her research, and understanding sexuality better, and bringing romance alive.

Romance….To be fair to her mocking classmate, her cheeks did feel a little bit hot. All night her mind had been filled with thoughts of the frankly rather dashing Reserve Course student that she had been paired with for the Talent Exchange Plan. So formal and polite, and chivalrous, to boot. She'd been convinced that all the boys here, however friendly, were basically hormonal louts. But Kumori Kurogane was a true gentleman. And rather handsome, to boot. Sure, it was weird that a boy had such long hair, but somehow it made him seem manlier…

…Yuna Yorokobi, you should know better than to have such scandalous thoughts! She scolded herself suddenly. Remember who you are and what you stand for. Don't suddenly become like the sex-crazed horde. But even as she scolded herself, she tried to reason with herself that it wasn't like that at all. She just admired him, that was all. Someone who was so utterly the opposite to the youth of these days. And perhaps the most importantly, he hadn't laughed at her when they'd introduced himself and she'd said her talent. There hadn't even been a glimmer of ridicule in his face or voice.

"That sounds most fascinating, Yorokobi-sama. I cannot confess to having ever really thought of my own sexuality or romantic inclinations, I have yet to experience that side of life."

"Good. It is probably better to wait, or at least to take things slow in that department. You have to make sure you are experiencing a true, romantic connection with the person and not just craving them for their body."

"That makes sense to me." Kumori said.

Yuna narrowed her eyes at him at that.

"Do you actually mean that?" she asked defensively.

"Well, of course I do," Kumori replied, blinking. "Why wouldn't I?"

"The youth of these days do not tend to think like that, at least none of them here. They all laugh at me."

Yuna gasped slightly when that confession spilled out of her mouth. She'd not meant to reveal that-surely he'd actually laugh at her now-but all Kumori did was nod soberly.

"Why would I laugh at something important to you?"

Yuna sighed at the memory. Truly, Kumori was something special. But she could not allow herself to be carried away. For now, they just had to be a tutor and mentee, working together to create her matchmaking service-they were meeting tonight as it happened, after Kumori had had his tutoring session with the SHSL Scholar from the year above. She couldn't wait.

Managing to get the heat in her cheeks under control as she left the dorm building, she subconsciously took to skipping instead. The sun was shining softly, flowers were growing, and between that and her mood, she couldn't help but think that life was utterly wonderful. Yes, this is going to be a wonderful year, and life in general is wonderful too. What more could I want?

As she headed towards the Main Building, she noticed a crowd forming, which halted her pink sparkly thoughts about Kumori and the future.

"Good morning, Yorokobi-san."

"Oh! Good morning, Kang-san," she addressed Minah with some warmth. "Do you know what's happening?"

"I've just noticed this myself," Minah replied. "Shall we go see? We're both still early, if you're worried about that."

Yuna hadn't been at that moment, but it was something she certainly would have considered, so she was glad Minah had brought it up.

"I suppose I am curious…"

"Perhaps Sawada-san from the other class is filming…" Minah mused. "That would explain it."

Yuna simply sniffed at that. She hadn't ever talked to Sawada, but she'd heard girls in her class swooning over him in a wholly inappropriate way.

"Hey, whatcha all talking about?"

All of a sudden, Sho Nakajima was there, and Yuna jumped, giving a little shriek. Sho simply smiled, looking far too satisfied with himself. Yuna instantly edged away, so she was on Minah's other side.

"We're wondering what's going on." Minah said simply.

"Ohhh, same here, actually. You gonna take a look?"

"Yes, we are." Minah said. "What do you think is going on? Is it Sawada-san?"

"Nah, it's not. He was ahead of me, but he turned back," Sho said nonchantly, pointing a thumb back at the dorm building. "So nah. Besides, you hear any fangirls screaming?"

Yuna considered this, and realised he had a point. The noise and the crowds certainly didn't sound excited or hysterical, as such. In fact, they sounded…anything but. Yuna suddenly felt very small, and she wanted to turn back and go inside. But natural curiosity overtook her, and she continued to walk with Minah and Sho, who made polite small talk while she remained silent, and gradually they got closer to the heart of the crowd, where they could hear snippets of description of what was going on and what everyone was crowding around. Even before she laid eyes upon it herself, she had managed to build a good picture of what was happening, yet even so, the sight floored her.

For the stones that had been brought in to make the statues of the other principals had been hacked to pieces, which had all been strewn across the area of grass like the debris of an earthquake.

And on top of all that, lying there like a victim of the earthquake, lay the toppled statue of Izuru Kamukura, smashed to pieces.

Since it is the school holidays, I will update once or twice more in the next two weeks, but we shall see how things turn out. I am going out with family friends on some days, and I have a essay, folder organisation, and lesson plans for next term to do. But it is the holidays, so fingers crossed.

Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter, and please leave feedback if you can