Another little something for 0mniessence!

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

Chapter 22. Studying

Even on their days off, the girls of Seishou Academy always practice or study to some degree, for some amount of time. But naturally, there are a few who practice and study a little longer, and a little more often than others.

Most commonly, when they weren't at the school studio itself and were instead hanging out around the dorms, the girls would do vocal exercises, practicing lines and dialogue back and forth or starting up little impromptu duets while doing chores.

Claudine does all of those things as much as any of the rest of them do, however there is one form of studying she partakes in rather frequently - though only when she's certain she's alone.

Today, she's dressed in her casual shorts and hoodie, not planning on doing anything particularly in-depth, but rather just perfect some of the basics. She settles herself outside on one of the dorm's little verandas. Out here, she has plenty of space to both move around and talk to herself, which she tends to do a lot when she's by herself.

Seated on one of the chairs now, she surveys the surrounding area to ensure no one will sneak up on her (as it's happened in the past) before she picks up her tablet where she'd left it on the nearby table.

She often brings the device along to extra practices they have, and even brings it to their school dance lessons sometimes when permitted. The purpose, of course, is to take videos and photos of other people dancing or singing, so that the user may go back at a later time to study the images that might have been too quick to see in real time.

All of the students do this kind of studying to some degree - they'd all gotten over the initial embarrassment of being filmed early on, and appreciated it as a way of helping their fellow stage girls grow and improve. They've even had classes that were solely about observation, where everyone had been encouraged to record and take photos for their own references.

Claudine has dozens of pictures and videos of her friends and classmates on her tablet (as well as her phone). But she definitely has a few more of a certain person than of anyone else.

Or… of everyone else combined…

The reason she tends to do these more private study sessions isn't because she's embarrassed of having pictures of Tendo Maya on her tablet, but because she doesn't ever want to risk anyone figuring out just how many pictures of Tendo Maya she has on her tablet.

It really is quite a lot… Videos, too.

Her reasoning is simple: Maya is the top student, so who better to learn from? She could get the most progress out of studying Maya's technique and form above anyone else's, as her partner, classmate, and rival.

Of course, she's never taken any without permission, either. Claudine would always bashfully ask her if she could record or take reference photographs of her, and of course Maya's answer was always in the affirmative.

She's certain Maya must know there are a lot of photos of her on this tablet, based on how often she's granted Claudine permission to take them. But she probably has no idea just how many. It isn't simply ten or fifteen per session. Probably at least double or triple that amount.

And that doesn't even include the few she has on her phone - though the majority of those are all ones she'd taken with permission as well, there are a handful she'd taken without, which were ones of Maya after having fallen asleep in some awkward place beside Claudine. She'd just make such a cute, relaxed expression sometimes, Claudine truthfully couldn't help herself.

But today isn't about appreciating those pictures. She's going to use what she's collected on her tablet in order to enhance her own posture and skills.

She gets up from her chair and does some very basic arm and leg stretches before swiping her tablet to her photo albums and browsing through them. She has various folders titled for specific dances and techniques, and everything is organized by date and performance.

Claudine selects a more recent folder, where - like most of the others - just about all of the files it contains are of Maya.

She first watches a video of Maya going through the dance, and thankfully the audio for the music comes through clearly as well. She then begins to go through the motions herself, pausing on occasion to return to the tablet and select certain still photos of Maya captured at a certain portion of the piece. She also watches a video of herself doing the same dance to compare. Claudine mutters to herself all the while.

"Right… and I should extend my arm a bit more here. Ah, and this angle is slightly off… I need to dip lower here…"

She practices as such on her own outside for about an hour until she begins to get thirsty and realizes she'd neglected to bring her water bottle along with her.

And she's usually very good about locking her tablet before leaving it unattended for any amount of time.

But today, she makes the fatal error of believing she'd be so quick in fetching her drink that it would be impossible for anyone else to happen upon her device before she returned. And besides, the screen would go black after ten seconds anyway, and anyone who minded their own business properly wouldn't lay a finger on it.

Justifying her actions thusly, Claudine hurries back inside in search of her water…

Maya had just been out for a stroll and some fresh air, nothing more, so she is fairly surprised to find such an expensive tablet left on the patio table unattended. She looks around in search of an owner, but finds no one, so she opts to call out.

"Excuse me? Has anyone left their tablet here…?"

But she hears no response from anywhere, and still sees no other people. She waits for a moment to see if the owner might return, but when no one appears, Maya takes matters into her own hands; she'll take it inside with her and start asking around, and if she can't find the owner, then she will bring it to the office.

But first, she presumes it would be best to check the underside of the device to see if there is a name tag or any identifiable sticker of some sort.

It's an accident, really.

She picks the tablet up carefully, and in the process of turning it over, her thumb swipes the screen just a little and ends up unlocking it. When she can't find a name tag or anything like that on the back, she hopes maybe the screen will display the owner's name, so she turns it around to look.

What she's expecting is a number pad asking for a password with the title "So-And-So's Tablet" at the top, or perhaps a very telltale background image.

What she isn't expecting is for the tablet to open right up without any passcode protection required and show her what the previous user had been looking at.

And what she's expecting even less than that is to find herself looking at pictures of… herself.

Quite a few of them.

3,672 to be exact.

Albums upon albums and folders upon folders of them.

The realization of exactly whose device this is strikes her with a bemused smile.

"My, my… This is quite something."

She knows Claudine and all other students have photo albums of others which they use for studying, and she also knows she'd granted Claudine permission to take every photo she has on here. But Maya never expected her to take frame-by-frame shots nearly every waking second.

"Such diligence and attention-to-detail…"

And just as the words come out of her mouth, she hears a loud shriek.

"T-Tendo Maya!"

Maya has to suppress a chuckle at the sight she sees when she turns around to the source of that outraged cry.

There's a clattering sound, followed by the rush of glugging liquid as Claudine drops her water bottle in horror. Her jaw is hanging wide open, and her eyes are a mixture of sheer anger and sheer panic.

Maya can't see her own smirk for herself, but she can only imagine it must look like Kaoruko's catlike, devilish grin.

"My, my, Saijou-san. Was this your tablet then, I presume?"

"Mechante!" Claudine stomps over her fallen water and snatches the tablet out of Maya's hands, her hair frazzled and fluffed-up like a hissing feline. "Have you no shame?! Blatantly going through other peoples' property without asking?! The nerve-!" Her voice cracks no fewer than three times throughout the sentence, and Maya has to do her best to keep herself from chuckling.

"Surely you misunderstand my intentions, Saijou-san. I thought it had been misplaced, and as such I was merely trying to seek out a label or image of some sort that would identify the owner. It was accidental that those photos popped up."

"Like hell it was!" Claudine shrieks. "You're lucky we're still on school grounds, or else I'd-"

"What?" Maya taunts. "Take another photo of me~?"

Claudine grabs a fistful of her collar and yanks her in until they're nose-to-nose.

"I swear to god-"

"Now, now," Maya puts her hands up for peace. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Saijou-san. We all take photos of one another for reference, don't we? I just simply wasn't anticipating nearly 4,000 of me alone."

"I'll seriously kill you-"

"Do not fret," Maya smiles. "I shall not speak a word of it to anyone else. Though do feel free to take a few candid shots every now and again. It does wonders for my ego."

Claudine's entire face turns cherry-red, and had she been any less impulsive she might've dropped the tablet and let it shatter into a million pieces.

"Tendo Maya-"

"I suppose it really shouldn't come as much of a surprise," Maya hums. "After all, we often share a bed together and are rather close, wouldn't you say? I'd expect you to have more photographs of me than anyone else. But still, that's quite a lot, wouldn't you say-?"

"All right! Enough!" Claudine screeches. "I'm going inside! And don't you dare follow me!" She whirls around with the tablet crushed to her chest, plucks up her fallen water bottle, and storms away into the building.

And of course, Maya hardly waits a second before following her anyway.

Claudine does her utmost best to avoid Maya at all costs for the remainder of the day, but it's inevitable that they end up back in the common room with some of the others from time to time.

Claudine hopes Maya would never be so cruel as to spill the beans about just how many photos Claudine had of her, but she still sends her a warning glare every chance she gets.

And of course, every time their eyes meet, Maya has a quirky, flirtatious response waiting for her, things like, "Oh? Would this make for a nice photo, Saijou-san?" and "Perhaps I should tilt my head a bit more. Would that suffice?" and "Oh, wait a moment please, let me shift into some better lighting."

And each smugly-muttered comment has Claudine's fuse this much closer to explosion. Every time she looks anywhere, it seems Maya is somehow in her line of sight, even when she's across the room.

And the others can easily tell something is going on between them, because for the most part no one mentions anything. Except Kaoruko of course.

"My, what's this~?" she drawls, slouching in against Claudine's side on the couch. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Mind your business," she huffs.

Kaoruko laughs.

"Oh, I'm very interested now. Do tell."

"Quit it." Ever her babysitter, Futaba pinches Kaoruko by the ear and drags her off. "Sorry, Kuroko. I hope it's nothin' serious."

Claudine heaves a long sigh.

"It's not. Don't worry."

Futaba grins. "Glad to hear it."

The nine of them enjoy dinner together at the island in the kitchen, though Claudine pointedly moves her stool away from Maya's when she sits down beside her. But of course, Maya is still egging her on when no one else is listening.

"Do tell," she says pleasantly. "How much closer to 4,000 have you gotten today?"

"I hope you mildly choke on that tenacity of yours."

"Only mildly? How kind. And would you give me CPR and have someone take a photo of it?"

Claudine ends up choking now, and both Maya and Nana on her other side rub her back for her until she's recovered.

"I swear…" Claudine grumbles. "I swear to god I'll-"

"Now, now, don't get so worked up," Maya purrs, but then her eyes become more genuinely apologetic. "I'm sorry. Are you all right?"

"I'll be better when you lay off me."

"Of course." Maya gives her back one last soft pat before returning to her food, and she doesn't tease Claudine for the remainder of the meal.

Claudine actually thinks she might be finished.

How stupid of her.

Once they've all finished eating and cleaning up to head for the couches and watch some TV, Claudine stiffly takes her usual spot beside Maya. And maybe she just wills it into existence, but she can't help but feel Maya is going to say something as she turns her face back to glare at her once again.

Maya is ready and waiting for her with the same smug smirk and a wink to boot.

"Why don't you take a picture~?" she whispers. "It will last longer."

"That's it! I'm going to bed!" Claudine abruptly jumps to her feet and storms to the exit, leaving all of her friends either startled or bemused. They all cast curious glances at Maya, who shakes her head with a hopeless smile and gets up to follow her.

"It seems I pushed her a bit too hard," she explains. "I shall go right my wrongs."

"Just keep it down, okay?" Kaoruko calls after them. "We don't wanna hear what you're doing in there."

"Oy, Kaoruko!"

"Hanayagi-san, please!"

"Huh? What's Kaoruko-chan talking about?"

"N-Nothing, Karen-chan! Don't worry about it-"

Maya quickly waves goodnight to them all and hurries out after Claudine before she can hear anymore.

Claudine is stomping down the hallway to her dorm room, but just before she can grab the handle, Maya takes hold of her wrist. Claudine snorts.

"I'm really not in the mood-"

"I'm sorry." Maya pulls her into an embrace and wraps Claudine in her arms. "I truly do mean it this time. I shouldn't have carried on like that. You won't hear another word from me on the matter, so please forgive me."

Claudine huffs again. Part of her wants to keep being mad, but the other part knows Maya is being genuine this time. She sighs.

"Prove it."

Maya eases back and kisses her sweetly.

"Oh, I shall."

She leads Claudine to her own room instead now, and brings her right to bed to sit down beside her. Claudine gives a pouty, expectant huff, and Maya begins making amends in the form of kisses.

Lots of them.

Every time she eases back with an inquisitive look in her eye, Claudine gives her the 'go on' stare, and so Maya happily continues to oblige.

Claudine forgives her teasing a little more with each passing minute, until she's too relaxed and content to pout anymore.

Maya pecks her nose before pulling her into another hug. Claudine slouches against her, resting her head on Maya's shoulder, her eyes already halfway to closing.

But that's when she spots an interesting stack of DVDs sitting on one of Maya's bookshelves. Even from this distance and in the dark, Claudine recognizes the labels.

"Oh? What have we hear?" She may have been winding down, but she'd never pass up an opportunity for revenge of something like this. As she eases back now, it's her turn to smirk up at Maya. "I do believe those DVDs are of 'Arrie.' You even have the limited edition version? That was quite hard to come by. And even the movies where I had very minor roles? And I'll bet those other discs are the commercials, right?"

She'd known Maya had secretly collected things of Claudine's childhood acting days, but this is the first time she's seen just how high that stack is for herself.

"And to leave them out in the open like that so blatantly… You really have no shame, do you, Tendo Maya?"

She hopes to fluster her, but to her chagrin Maya actually puffs her chest up proudly.

"As a matter of fact, I don't," she replies. "I am not ashamed at all to admit that I did admire you greatly, even before I'd properly made your acquaintance. Would you believe me if I said you were a major source of inspiration for the young and bright-eyed Tendo Maya?"

Claudine scoffs. "Yeah right…"

"But it is the truth, Ma Claudine."

Claudine nearly chokes again at the uncalled-for use of the pet name. She snorts.

"You're unbelievable… truly infuriating."

"Though I don't think the amount of hours on those discs comes anywhere near to 4,000…"

"Why you-!" Claudine can't hold back any longer. She pounces, tackling Maya back onto the bed and pinning her down, huffing and frazzled. Maya simply continues to grin.

"Saijou-san, is this meant to be a punishment of some sort? Because it really isn't working in that manner."

"Do you ever shut up?"

"Not unless- mm-"

Claudine claims her tiny victory tonight in kissing her quiet, though she knows that really isn't a form of punishment either. She kisses Maya until neither of them have much breath left to speak, then flops down on top of her.

"We're going to bed. And not another word out of you."

"Oui, mademoiselle."

"What did I just say?"

Maya purses her lips in a smile and hugs the small of her back gently, until she can feel the tension drain from Claudine's muscles. After a long moment, Claudine finally heaves one last sigh.

"Bonne nuit."

Silence.

Another huff.

"Say it back…"

Maya nods.

"Bonne nuit, Ma Claudine."

And at last they both finally doze off, wishing they could each secretly take a picture of the other's cute sleeping face.

But for now, simply painting the image into their hearts will do.

A/N: I still can't believe it's canon that they both secretly collect each other's content... It's truly beautiful.

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