A/N: Enjoy the update!
The next morning Seiko is stirred from sleep by Mana lightly nudging her shoulder. Due to her heartbreak, she'd gotten little sleep last night. In fact, she'd ended up crying herself to past exhaustion to where she passed out around 2 in the morning.
The poor 16-year-old feels like absolute crap with her puffy, bloodshot eyes, rats nest hair, and reddened cheeks. The headache drumming the side of her skull and compressing her sinuses isn't much help either. Her pillow is still damp from her tears, making it quite uncomfortable to rest her head against. Even the bangs framing her face are soaked, sticking to her cheeks in the most irritating of ways. She mumbles something incoherent to her now worried roommate.
"It's almost time for class," the redhead says gingerly, "You okay?"
Not feeling up to facing the world today right at this moment, Seiko unintentionally, but still somewhat rudely, flips her blankets over her head. She mutters from underneath the mass of fabrics, "No... I don't feel good..."
Mana sighs, shaking her head. She knows for a fact Seiko isn't someone who skips class for the hell of it. She must really be sick. "Do you want to just rest today?" the composition course student suggests.
"Yeah... sorry..."
"Don't worry about it. It's not even the deadline to turn in our forms yet."
Mana picks up her school bag, slinging it over her shoulder in the usual fashion. She walks on out of the room but pokes her head back in the dorm to say, "I'll come and check on you later. Take it easy and rest up." The ginger-haired, brown-eyed girl leaves, yet lingers just outside the dorm room. Seiko-chan...
She couldn't help but feel worried. Seiko didn't say a word about when she supposedly met Syo yesterday. In fact, the azalea-eyed girl barely talked last night in general. This concerns Mana. It's not like Seiko to have been as detached as she had been yesterday.
"Yo, Little Red," Ren flirtatiously greets her as she walks into homeroom. He gives her a wink and chuckles as she blushes. The orange-haired, saxophonist is leaning on her desk, surprisingly not Seiko's as usual in order to rile her up. He takes note of the light copper-haired girl's absence, asking, "Where's Seiko-boo? Running late?"
Mana sets her bag down and shakes her head. "She's asleep in our room. Seiko isn't feeling well," she explains, nudging Ren off her desk somewhat playfully.
"Seiko-chan's sick?!" Syo comes up, demanding an answer, clearly concerned.
"I'm sure it's nothing," Mana soothes, "She's probably over exhausted from working so hard non-stop."
Ren adds, nodding, "She has been looking rather pale lately. Maybe even skinnier... if that's even possible."
"Seiko-chan's always been pale and skinny!" the platinum blonde comes to her defense. But even so... Seiko has been looking quite run down for the past few days. These all-nighters she keeps pulling with Mana are not good for her health.
Mana frowns as an idea pops into her mind. Maybe something went down between her and Kurusu-san. She wouldn't talk about it yesterday. She just kinda dodged around the question. "So... what did you and Seiko-chan talk about yesterday?" the redhead questions, playing it off as if she knew none the wiser.
"Nothing."
"Nothing? What do you mean 'nothing?' She told me she was going out to talk to you."
"We never spoke yesterday... she didn't tell you?"
Mana gulps, "N-no... she didn't speak much when she came back." She can't believe how nervous she sounded to herself. She mentally slaps herself for sounding so suspicious.
"So... what Natsuki said last night... is true..." Syo mumbles in a tone Mana can't quite make out.
"What?" she asks, begging for him to repeat his statement in a more clear voice.
"Nothing," he responds, "Don't worry about it..." The blonde silently takes his seat. Is it really possible that Seiko is in love with him? Why else would she be absent from class the day after she saw him talking to Haruka? Or maybe she really is ill. Her immune system is pretty frail.
He's startled by Mana forcibly slamming her palms down onto his desk, grabbing his full attention. She angrily snarls, "Uh, no. You... spill it!"
"It's nothing you need to worry about!" he snaps back. It's bad enough Natsuki has gotten himself involved. The last thing Syo needs is for Mana to entangle herself in an issue that he needs to solve on his own, if there's even an issue to solve in the first place.
Mana retorts coldly, "This is my roommate, partner, and most importantly, my best friend we're talking about here. It is my business!"
Syo yells, "She was my best friend first! And it's nothing since she cancelled on me!" He half-blushes as he realizes he let his temper flare for a second with a tinge of jealously. The platinum blonde pauses before continuing, more controlled, "Let it go... I don't want to talk about it with anyone."
Mana frowns, putting her hands on her hips. Something definitely happened... Both of them are acting weird. The ginger-haired girl silently takes her seat in defeat. She's not going to get any information out of her best friend's crush, so she'll have to interrogate Seiko herself instead.
As for the light copper-haired girl, she awakens a few hours later feeling a little more refreshed than she did this morning. Still, her heart ached as the faint memory of the afternoon before replays in her mind. Shaking her head furiously in an attempt to clear her thoughts, Seiko rolls out of bed to brush her hair and dresses into fresh clothes. The azalea-eyed girl grabs a pen and her song journal to write more lyrics in order to distract herself from all thoughts of Syo.
Eventually, her tactic works and she's distracted enough that she doesn't realize how much time passes until Mana comes through the door after lessons for the day are over.
"Oh good, you look much better!" Mana sighs, relieved. She sets down her bag by her desk and rummages in her desk for a few of the music sheets of the songs they still have for in the running for their graduation audition.
Seiko shyly apologizes, "Y-yeah... S-sorry if I worried you..."
"Don't mention it, you needed a break anyway," her roommate chuckles. She pauses at her keyboard, fiddling with the keys. Taking a deep breath, Mana questions, "So... did something bad happened between you and Kurusu-san?"
The 16-year-old idol course student flinches slightly at her question. Seiko shakily closes the book in her hands. "I... I-I wouldn't say that..." she stammers quietly, "I just got a reality check." That's what last night really was. She needed to get her head out of the clouds because she could be nothing more than Syo's best friend.
"Why didn't you talk to him?! Please tell me you did not chicken out at the last second!" Mana snaps. If Seiko seriously backed out on her love confession, the ginger-haired girl is about to drag her to the platinum blonde herself.
"N-no... I was going to... b-but..." she whimpers, tears welling back up in her eyes. She keeps seeing Syo and Haruka's faces nearly inches from one another. Seiko bites her lip as she tries to hold back her tears.
Mana's brown eyes widen in shock as her roommate wipes away small tears from her face. She rushes to her side, exclaiming, "Oh God, Seiko-chan... what happened?!"
Seiko answers, hiccupping, "S-Syo-kun loves s-someone else... I... I saw him w-with Nanami-chan..."
"Seiko-chan... I'm so sorry..." Mana consoles, hugging her friend and partner tight.
"I-I'm okay... really," Seiko mutters, nudging her friend off of her, "We really should get to work. We still have to narrow done our list."
"Seiko, if you don't feel up to it, we don't have to," Mana suggests.
"I'd rather put this behind me and out of my memory," Seiko says, somewhat coldly before getting up from her seat to walk over to Mana's keyboard.
Mana blinks a few times in surprise. She responds, "O-ok... if that's what you want." The composition course student joins her graduation partner over by her keyboard.
Like the many nights before, they cut their list down a bit more. Now, they were left with 3 songs. Each has its own special meaning to Seiko as her lyrics passed on messages from deep within her heart.
Mana exhales, leaning back in her chair, stretching, "Mhmm... I think we can call it a day."
Seiko nods, taking a sip from her water bottle. "Sure, fine with me," she replies, closing her book with her lyrics and leaving it on her desk.
"Are you hungry? Why don't we go catch some dinner?" Mana suggests.
"Alright, I could go for some dinner!" the azalea-eyed girl smiles, acting very much like her old self. She knows she can't mope around all day. Plus, keeping herself holed up in her room wouldn't make her feel any better about her heartbreak. She quickly changes into her school uniform and heads down to the cafeteria with Mana.
On the way, they run into Haruka and Tomochika. Seiko chats with them in a friendly manner as if nothing happened before continuing on her way. Inside, she is jealous of Haruka, but lashing out in anger wouldn't do her any good. And it isn't like Haruka really did anything against her. No, she had no control over Syo falling in love with her just as he had no control over Seiko falling in love with him.
"I'm thinking of ordering a nice bowl of pasta tonight, what about you?" Seiko asks as she and her roommate draw closer to the buffet area. She doesn't hear Mana's answer as she collides with someone coming from the opposite direction. The 16-year-old holds her breath as she realizes she's smacked into Syo, someone she isn't completely prepared to face just yet.
"S-Seiko-chan!" he exclaims, "I thought you weren't feeling well today."
Feeling tongue tied, she stutters clumsily, "I-I'm feeling m-much better f-from t-this morning..." Seiko tries so desperately to hide the blush that threatens to overtake her face. She flinches as the images of him and Haruka flash in her head.
Syo questions, "Is something the matter? You know you can tell me anything, right?"
"Y-you know what... I'm not too hungry anymore... S-sorry... I've got to go..." Seiko excuses herself before retreating out of the cafeteria. As she runs back to her room, she mentally berates herself for acting so cowardly. Even so, she can't muster the strength to turn back around.
Syo sadly watches her flee and curses under his breath. He really screwed up with her. The platinum blonde turns to her shocked roommate and asks, "What am I going to do? I just found her, I can't lose her again."
"I don't know... that's something for you two to sort out..." Mana responds, striding away to get her dinner and a dinner to go for her roommate.
It is pure luck that he'd finished his meal before his run in with his best friend who is in love with him. Now, he feels sick to his very core. He put her in such pain over a misunderstanding. And since that night, Natsuki has barely been speaking to him. He has to fix this somehow.
Reaching into his pants pocket, he pulls out his phone and hastily types a text message to Seiko.
Alone in her dorm room, Seiko sits in the windowsill, staring out at the darkened campus. She hears her phone's text message tone sound and figures it's Mana asking her what she wants to eat. Upon inspection, she nearly drops her phone in surprise. And somehow, she knew he'd text her.
He is asking to meet her outside, at the gazebo overlooking the lake. He needs to talk to her.
She stares at the message hesitantly. Her eyes tremble in uncertainty at what to do. They widen as she sees another message pop up.
Please... I really need to talk to you... I'll be waiting for you there.
Seiko takes a shaky seat on the edge of her bed. She holds her head in her hands trying to decide what she should do. If she goes, there's no telling what can happen. But if she doesn't, she can lose him as a friend as well. She can't lose him.
Making up her mind, she rushes out to meet Syo. Her heart pounds the whole way but she cannot back out now. She is going to tell him how she feels, regardless if he loves someone else. No matter how much it hurt to give him to another girl, it would hurt her more to be torn from his side forever. She slows as she draws closer to the gazebo. She can see a figure standing inside. Seiko knows it's Syo. As she steps inside, the teen girl remains quiet.
"I knew you'd come," Syo lightly laughs. His words are true. He knew inside that she'd come. He is sure it is to hear his side of the story.
"S-Syo-kun... I..." she mumbles, looking down at her feet.
He strides up to her and embraces her. "Seiko-chan, I'm sorry..." Syo explains, "I swear, there's nothing between me and Nanami. I was asking her to be my graduation partner."
Seiko blushes as his arms tighten around her. She snaps, "Then why were you so close to her?!" She yanks herself from his embrace and backs away a few steps.
"I just got so excited... and I know it's no excuse for how I've hurt you. Natsuki told me everything," the platinum blonde sighs. The angry stare that his best friend is giving him makes him feel so pained.
"W-what did Na-chan tell you?"
"Something that I'd rather hear from you."
Seiko takes in a deep breath. Her heart is racing so fast she can barely breathe. There's no turning back now, she has to tell him. Or she will never forgive herself.
"Syo-kun... I love you..."
A/N: Hey, I'm alive. Hope everyone had a good and safe holiday season.
I'm still off on Winter Break. Don't go back until next week. Sorry for making you all wait this long...
I have a real issue with writer's block...
Hope you enjoyed this one. Leave a review if you'd like :)