Chapter 13 (Yuiren)

The shop was quiet, filled with more books and dust and warmth than actual customers, and Yuiren hummed to herself as she hung up her apron. Her decision to attend Saotome Gakuen had been a little tough on her family financially, and the Headmaster had informed them that they had few scholarships - a fact he hoped would change in the future, but which remained as it was for now. Yuiren had been lucky to find a job at a little music shop near school, and even more lucky that the Headmaster had been willing to make a concession for her and allow her to work as she studied, since it was just a weekend arrangement.

As music shops went, this one had been around for a few years. Locals and students alike frequented it mostly for the ambience, which was comfortable and peaceful and friendly, and mostly they all gathered in the section of the shop which held a small cafe, with little cakes and desserts and drinks. Yuiren's favorite was the five-bomb choco parfait, with 5 different types of chocolate, though she had yet to try it as it was one of the pricier items on the menu, and her student card only got her free meals at school.

The rest of it were musical instruments, accessories and stuff for maintaining said instruments, a section for music books and music scores, and another for CDs and DVDs. It was fairly up-to-date for a quiet store like this one, and for a music student, it was a little slice of heaven.

So far, only Jun knew that she was working here - she'd had to tell him, or he wouldn't have let her leave that morning when he saw her dressing for work - and true to her nature, Yuiren was fine with leaving things that way.

So she was completely unprepared for him to be waiting for her at the school gates when she got back that evening, dressed in a purple exercise suit that completely clashed with his hair and looking fit to explode.

"Where have ya been, cutie?" he demanded, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her away with him towards the fountain. "The results 're out! Hurry up, ya gotta go see what you got!"

Yuiren considered resisting, but by this time he'd managed to drag her more than halfway up the school's impressive driveway. With a sigh, she firmly took back possession of her arm and glared at him to remind him that she could walk on her own. He rolled his eyes but sashayed in with her, dripping sweat from whatever exercise he'd been doing.

"What did you get?" Yuiren asked after a moment of silence between them, the only sound their shoes scuffling along the floor. Her expression was as quiet as ever, but there was a paleness in her cheeks and a tenseness in her body that belied her nervousness. Jun wasn't stupid, but his own expression gentled as he answered, "85 percent, second highest in ma class. No worries, cutie - I knew how I did, and I wasn't expecting less than 70. But you- "

The girl promptly startled ten years off his life by falling to her knees, closing her eyes and covering her ears and yelling, "NO SPOILERS, NO SPOILERS!" She sounded close to tears as she looked up at him pleadingly and begged, "No spoilers, I don't think I can take spoilers."

Hm. Jun had a feeling this was about the nightmares his roommate had been having over the past two nights. Though he was dying to ease her nerves, he supposed that his sleep-deprived friend probably was really worried about her results and that she might prefer finding out on her own.

Heck, there should be a manual on handling chicks. But as girls went, Yuiren was more tomboyish than he'd anticipated.

So it was with a degree of relief that he noted the approach of the two members of Starish that his roommate had mentioned making friends with over the past few weeks, from the other end of the hallway. Waving them over frantically, he patted Yuiren on the back and helped her to her feet.

"Bulletin board is that way," he said, pointing. "I'll go find my 'followers'. Cheer up, cutie. Maybe you did better than you thought."

She nodded at him glumly, and turned to face the direction he'd pointed at with the expression of a girl about to face the executioner. Pure terror and fear. Poor little cutie. Jun patted her on the back again, flipping his lavender braid behind one shoulder. "Courage, sweets, courage."

Yuiren took a deep breath, and began to march towards the boards. Jun considered following her, but then realized that the redhead and the dark-haired dude had reached, and he simply waved them after Yuiren and winked.

Yup, he deserved a roommate of the year award, if he did say so himself.

Meanwhile, over at the boards, Yuiren simply could not bring herself to look up. Her future was posted up there, somewhere in the words and kanjis, but she was too scared to see. What if her nightmares became life, and her name wasn't even there? What if the substance of her bad dreams turned real, and she found out she'd failed?

Courage, Jun had said. But she couldn't find where she'd put her last reserves of the stuff, damn it.

'Nii-san? Help me look?' she pleaded silently, and was about to turn on her brother's persona for just a moment, just long enough to look up and search for her name... when her trembling knees finally decided they'd had enough and slid her entire body down to the ground again with a flop.

Behind her, there was a quick, familiar "Whoops", and suddenly a pair of strong arms were under her armpits and hauling her up.

Momentarily confused, Yuiren slowly turned around, and met a pair of bright, red eyes that reminded her of peace and happiness.

A second later, she recognized Ittoki, and behind him, Tokiya, and she quickly stepped backwards and out of Ittoki's grip.

"I... That is... Thank you, senpai." Embarrassed, she dipped her head and heard him chuckle.

"Came to check out your results after the crowds have gone? Smart," he quipped easily, and she looked up, startled into smiling.

"Er.. something like that. I was busy." Changing the subject, she glanced warily at the board again. "I..."

Ittoki's expression changed slightly as he studied her. Seeming to pick up on her nervousness, he offered, "Hey. Want me to look? It can't be that bad. I remember watching your exam, it was awesome. I'm a fan of Dog Days, too!"

Yuiren misheard. "It's out?" she asked, excitedly.

"Huh?"

"Dog Days 2?"

Behind both of them, they heard Tokiya's chuckle, a rare sound echoing through the empty hallway with the fading sunset.

Ittoki resisted the urge to facepalm. "Er, no, that is, I... Never mind." Gently, he gripped her shoulders and turned her to face the board. "You're stalling."

"Er, Ittoki," Tokiya started from behind them. "Her name..."

"No spoilers!" cried Yuiren again, clapping her hands over her ears, startling both boys. "Don't tell me, I can't look!"

"Why not?" Ittoki kept his grip light, yet firm. "It's just the midterms. I bet you passed."

Yuiren spun to face him, eyes filled with despair and unhappiness. Unable to hold it in anymore, she cried, "But I have to do more than that!" Her eyes widened as the sound echoed all the way down the hall. Tokiya glanced at her as she clapped a hand over her mouth. "I have to... I mean, I was hoping..."

Ittoki looked confused, Tokiya's expression, on the other hand, cleared slightly as he seemed to understand something. Stepping over to his groupmate, he removed Ittoki's hands from her shoulders, gesturing for his friend to look at the list of names printed above them, specifically indicating Yuiren's class. As Ittoki scanned the list, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped, and Tokiya gently steered the girl towards another board on the other side.

"Where -"

"Shh," he soothed, as she seemed close to tears. "It wasn't there... Up there. Look."

Yuiren obeyed.

A second later, the corridor was rocked with a piercing scream of pure happiness, and Tokiya found himself being hugged by an explosion of sobbing, wildly excited, overjoyed 17-year-old girl. Allowing himself a rare smile, he hugged her back.

"Congratulations, and welcome to A class, Sukunami-chan," he whispered into her hair as Ittoki came over to read the list for himself and let out a few whoops of his own. "I'm sorry if this upsets you, but I have to say it. I think your brother would be proud."

In response, Yuiren's arms simply tightened around him as she wept her joy.

Author's Notes: And Yuiren gets into A Class! Please R&R if you like and do stay tuned, minna!