I honestly thought it'll be long before I update. But since there're unexpectedly many comments and reads, ideas just sprang out of nowhere and here it is. In other words, this is all thanks to readers. Ah, and yeah. I should have mentioned the Treasurer last, but I kind of forgot. I'll double check next time~ And for those who have been asking MidoAkaYume, you will be happy to read this chapter. Tell me if you want more~! Enjoy~

Pairings : Undecided

Warnings : Teikō Middle School Days.

Disclaimer : I own only the OCs.


Chapter 10 - Fear the wolf in front and the tiger behind

For the few chosen students to enter the Student Council, lunch break is now 45 minutes long from 60 minutes.

The last 15 minutes are to be used for meetings and Student Council works at the Student Council office, and participation is mandatory.

Thinking back, Yume's first day at the Student Council wasn't as worse as she had initially predicted.

The newly appointed President certainly packed quite a work, but he is surprisingly capable despite being a first year busied with hardcore after-school club activities like basketball.

Needless to say, Yume is starting to harbour a well-deserved respect for the boy. Akashi is obviously her age, but he handles numerous difficult documents as if he's breathing.

It's a breathtaking sight to see him works so accurately and neatly, at quite a speed, too. It's amazing. Everyone will agree on that.

If there's one thing different Yume noticed due to her keen sense to pick up hidden emotions, it's that she somehow feels sad for him. Yume can't deny she sensed something familiar from him.

There's something about Akashi, that makes Yume's stomach turned and her heart beating in discomfort. His uncharacteristic yet fitting behaviour the day of the presentation for the Student Council election confirmed her suspicion even further.

Of course, being the girl she is, Yume wouldn't say. She doesn't wish to make more mess of her already messy school life. Also, it's not like Yume plans to get along with Akashi more than necessary.

"So, how's your first day at the Student Council, Yuu-chan? Good? Disastrous?" Momoi questioned in excitement, her eyes gleaming with curiosity. "How's Akashi-kun? Midorin?"

Yume shifts in slight discomfort. The three are having lunch together on the rooftop, as per usual, although it's just the fourth day. "..It's... nice.." Yume replied vaguely.

"..Akashi-kun is amazing. He seems used to handling files and documents." Yume added with a smile. Then she sweat dropped. "..Midorima-kun…" it seems like she lost her words. "..he is... slightly picky?"

The superstitious greenhead nitpicks at almost everything, from the fonts, the space and everything on the documents. Although, Yume isn't sure if that's what he really wants to talk about.

To Yume, it seems Midorima was just creating opportunities to converse more. Honestly though, everyone know it's not the way to go. If he keeps this up, Midorima might just find Kuga and Takeda with their backs on him soon.

"..He is a bit.. weird.." Yume concluded Midorima in one word. "Midorima-kun is not bad, o-of course..!" she added, seemingly afraid to offend the male.

As fellow clubmates, Momoi and Aomine knows exactly what Yume's talking about. The boy is not bad, certainly, but yes, he is weird.

"Will you have another meeting after this, too, Yuu-chan?" Momoi asked as Yume nodded.

"It's 15 minutes towards the break's end, everyday." Yume answered. She smiled wryly. "I will have less time with you, Sat-chan. Sorry.."

Momoi huffed. "What are you talking about, Yuu-chan! There's no need to say sorry! If anything, I feel happy you finally made another social circle!" her eyes spoke her conviction.

Then Momoi deflated. "Although.. I honestly would like to spend more time with you, Yuu-chan.." she spoke from her tiny heart.

Aomine sighed. "She can't help it, you know, Satsuki. Manai is busy." He knows how Momoi always wishes for a girl friend, so he knows she is dejected despite feeling happy for the girl.

"Why not just come to watch us practice then? It is after school." Aomine suggested.

It would have been a good idea, if not for her part-time works. Yume shook her head. "I can't, sorry. I have part-time works at the bookstores today."

Turning to her side, Yume can see how depressed Momoi is, which makes her feel bad. "..If it's tomorrow.. I probably can.."

In a split second, Yume finds her hands clasped in Momoi's with her gleaming peach orbs on her limegreen ones. "Really, Yuu-chan?! You will go watch the practice?" she repeated with vigour.

This brought a smile to Yume's face. Her expression softens as she gazed at her bestfriend. "Mm. I will."

The delightful Momoi flung herself at Yume, almost toppling the latter. Momoi hugs her bestfriend. "I'm happy, blissful and blessed to have a friend like you, Yuu-chan! I'm really happy!"

Yume hugs the girl back, covering her euphoric smile with Momoi's shoulder. "..I'm happy, too, Sat-chan.. for being your friend.."

The girl-girl scene is a little to no interest for the tanned male who watched it through one-eye. Although, it's noted that his lips quirked into a smile.

Momoi, is for the better or worse, is still Aomine's childhood friend he grew up with. She is nosy and all, but she is an irreplaceable existence for Aomine Daiki.


Our heroine is currently sitting at the Student Council office, the agreed meeting time is still 5 minutes away, but she decided to come early to do some reading on the report Akashi had compiled the day before.

It's about the allotted budgets on some of the clubs, and the claimed deficits. Akashi had told Yume to read it over and tell him if the budget one of the clubs asked for is plausible, and to report it to him.

Frankly, it's clear to Yume that Akashi had deemed it as untrue, that the club didn't need such high budget. It's also clear to her, that Akashi is testing her worths.

What a leader is supposed to do when working with new colleagues, is to know their capabilities. It's what exactly Akashi is doing.

He wants her opinion, her insights and not his, since matters concerning monetary is her responsibility.

Yume understood that, and that's why he will hear no complain from her. She had compiled the club's spendings for the previous year, and found some unnecessary purchases.

Also, it seems their achievements isn't exactly praiseworthy. Although, Yume won't raise that fact against them. It seems cruel to her, using their achievements to decline their budget proposal.

She will just point out their unnecessary purchases and how the school isn't responsible for it. Maybe even tell them how to 'bargain', since it seems as if they are paying full prices even for mass purchases.

The door slides open, and the stoic greenhead Vice President came in. His gaze landed on the lone person in the room.

"Good afternoon, Midorima-kun." Yume greeted with a courteous smile.

Midorima acknowledged her greeting with his own curt nod, then he noticed the papers in Yume's hands. "Are those the ones Akashi gave you yesterday?"

"Yes." Yume confirmed with a nod. "I wish to have another look."

The boy only nodded before making his way to his desk, which is the desk diagonal to Yume.

The desks on the Student Council are positioned facing each other except for the President's desk, which is facing front and the others' desk.

Yume's Treasurer desk is in the innermost of the room, on the right side, facing Takeda's Public Relations Committee desk, and next to her is Kuga's Secretary desk, which is facing Midorima's Vice President desk.

For reasons unknown, Yume's been subjected to mental tortures in the form of Midorima's continuous staring on her these past few seconds.

Yume stiffen at the intent attention. 'Why is Midorima-kun staring at me when I'm just reading..?' she cringed inwardly. Now the words can't even enter her mind.

Thankfully, another person enters the room then, earning Midorima's attention and eliciting a relieved sigh from Yume.

"Am I disturbing something?" Akashi's soft yet sharp voice chimed as he walked in.

"I-It's nothing, Akashi-kun..!" Yume denied almost immediately, waving her hand frantically.

Akashi smirks. Why he likes teasing the girl, he has yet to discover. He can't deny that there's this odd attraction for the girl who doesn't just fear him.

Manai Yume has a different emotion towards him other then fear. It's nowhere near affections or the likes, and he is curious as to what exactly.

As Akashi walked to his desk, he posed his question at Yume. "Has you done the work I assigned you, Manai-san?"

"Y-Yes, A-Akashi-kun..!" Yume squeaked her answer. She really need to get used to Akashi how he always makes her panic. "..I just need to type the written report.."

Akashi chuckles in amusement. "That's quick. Why don't you come here and tell me of your findings now? Manai-san?" he questioned, he pronounced her name in an amused tone.

If she can get anymore nervous than she is now, Yume would like to see what else it could be. She shifts in her feet before she stands up from her seat, and hesitantly makes her way to Akashi's desk.

Akashi is smiling as he leans on his seat, his arms crossed on his chest. It somehow unnerves Yume even more. Not to mention she can feel Midorima's hard stare at her back.

Nervous is surely an understatement for Yume is downright terrified and she had a hunch that these two boys are enjoying it.

Yume finally opened her mouth to speak, although for a while, only inaudible mutters come out of it. "...th... ...un-... n't... ..."

Yume bit her lips. This is not how she is supposed to act. Akashi is expecting her to prove her worth, and Midorima is assessing her abilities.

'..I can't behave cowardly and shakes in my shoes!' Her resolve shined through.

Yume lifts her head, and her soft limegreen eyes harden. This elicits a smirk from Akashi, and Midorima can feel his brows twitched.

"The Choir's proposed budget is unreasonable, and unnecessary purchases where school can't be held liable for has been made continuously after the appointment of the new Club President."

"As the Treasurer, I declare their demands invalid." Yume finished.

This time, her voice is loud and clear, with firm conviction lacing her words. Her gaze is straight and unwavering as it locked with amused crimson-ruby.

Inside, Yume can feel her heart thumping at alarming rate. She is dead nervous, which let her understands the smirk tugging on Akashi's lips.

Fortunately, it seems Midorima has pitied her and ceased his stares, because she can no longer feel that piercing, assessing stares.

After what feels like a while, Akashi chuckles. He leans forward, his elbows resting on his desk. "I commend you on your insights, Manai-san. I will be eagerly awaiting your report."

The tormented girl's rigid posture finally relaxed. She is now mentally at peace, having done with what she sets out to do.

On the side note, to her initial expectation, it seems Yume will really die on her feet, and Akashi be the death of hers.

"..I understand, Akashi-kun." Yume wheezed weakly, unlike her confident tone before. She trudged back to her seat, and start typing her report.

All the while seemingly unaware to the satisfied looks sent her way. In fact, Yume can no longer notice any meaningful stares on her as her mind blanked out for anything other then her report and completing it quickly, flawlessly, and mistake-free.

Kuga and Takeda came not long after, distinguishing whatever remaining tensions before they had came in.


Books fill the bookshelves where Yume has her part-time works in. Apparently, there're some new arrivals, so Yume needs to rearrange some of the books so the new one can fit in.

"For a young 'un, you sure work hard, Yume-chan." A man in his late thirties sighed from the counter, he is the owner of the bookstore.

The girl turns and smiles slightly at her employer. "Thank you, Kawahara-san. But I'm only doing what I have to."

Kawahara sighs even more. Why can't his son be even remotely similar to Yume? His daughter even pales in comparison to the girl, he even recalls there's this male model enamoured by his teenage daughter.

"Oh, right, Yume-chan? There's this popular teen model around your age. He just started, but he's been getting lots of attention for his looks." Kawahara explained. He doubts the girl would know, though. The books she borrowed (he let her) are mostly educational; no magazines. "Do you know him?"

The answer, is as expected, negative. "Huh? No, not really." Yume replied. She wasn't really paying attention as she sorted the books. It's clear Yume doesn't really care for fashions and stuffs.

Kawahara shrugs. He expects this response from the girl. She should really show more interest in boys. "I'll be going to the storage for a while. I need to check the stock for Zunon Boy mags. It sold out fast."

Yuki nodded mindlessly as Kawahara exited the counter. He halted. "Oh, and move these empty boxes outside. We won't need them." he pointed to the boxes lying next to the counter.

Yume nodded again. "I understand, Kawahara-san."

With that, Yume is left alone on the store. After she finished sorting the books, Yume turned her attention to the boxes.

"Carry these outside, eh?" Yume muttered. She tried lifting them, and since it's empty like her employer said, it's light.

Yume decided to stack the boxes together since it would take less time to finish. She has extra revisions to do if she wants to go to tomorrow 's practice.

It won't be effective since Yume would usually review the lessons of the day, but it will help if she studies the new materials before the actual classes.

Yume lifts 3 boxes of them, neatly stacked together. "It's light.." she noted as she made her way to the automatic door.

To her surprise, the door opened when Yume is not close enough for the sensor to went off.

But the sensor isn't wrong. Because someone else entered when Yume was about to exit, and with the boxes effectively blocking her vision, Yume bumped into said person.

"Ow.." Yume landed on her butt, wincing slightly. Moreover, the boxes landed on her, and the person she bumped into.

Yume paled. After her experiences in part-time works, the saying Customer is King, really shows in her paychecks.

She knows she is in trouble for screwing up. Although her employer is not here, he is bound to run in after hearing the thudding noises from the falling boxes.

The one Yume bumped into turned out to be a boy, and he kindly offered his hand. "Are you okay?"

Yume looked up in surprise, she expected the boy to yelled at her for her careless mistake. Although, she's in for another surprise when limegreen clashed with unexpected bright, golden-yellow.

"Eh?" The boy let out a gasp of recognition. He recalled that he had met her on Teikō before, the girl that had dropped her thing and the girl that crashed into his karaoke time.

He pulled Yume back to her feet and Yume recognised the boy she also bumped before, and the one time they met at the karaoke box when she was with Momoi. Her face flushed scarlet at her remembrance.

"We might be fated to meet, with you always bumping into me." The boy scratched his cheek as he joked.

In her panic, Yume didn't process it as a joke. She bowed immediately. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you, honest."

Seeing how frantic she was, the boy waved his hands furiously. "I-I was just joking..! It's really okay."

"What happened?" Kawahara decided to make his appearance then. He initially thought Yume just dropped the boxes somehow, but since he heard some noises in the store, he got curious and decided to look.

Yume raised her head and looked at her employer, who was glancing at the scattered boxes. "..I bumped into our customer when I was carrying those boxes.."

"It's fine! I wasn't looking as well! I was looking at my cellphone while I walked, it's part my fault." The boy repeated, explaining further at the older male.

Yume blinked in confusion. From what she remembered, the boy wasn't even holding a cellphone when he bumped into her.

'Was he lying..? Why..?' Yume wondered mentally, giving confused glances at the blond haired boy.

Kawahara heaved a sigh of relief. If the customer is partly at fault, and isn't offended, there really is nothing here. "It's okay then. I apologise for my employee's mistake."

He turned to Yume. "You can tidy the boxes. I will be at the back." Kawahara spoke before he left.

When her employer is out of sight, Yume decided to ask the question that's been plaguing her mind. "..Were you really looking at your cellphone then?"

The male chuckles nervously. Yume takes that as he didn't. "..Why did you lie?" she asked again.

He simply smiles. "I wouldn't want you to get in trouble."

Yume find herself blinking more. She is inwardly wondering why, when they didn't even know each other.

She crouched wordlessly to pick up the boxes. Only to find the boy doing the same at her back. He is helping her.

Somehow, Yume had lost the will to ask why. She feels that the boy won't be answering her seriously.

"Can I ask for your name?" He asked quite suddenly. "I-I just thought it'd be nice if I can greet you with your name whenever we meet..! ..since we're both Teikō students.."

The whole time, Yume was quiet, taking in his suggestions. While she doesn't like giving her names at random strangers, the boy did help her twice, even after she bumped into him.

"...Manai Yume.." Yume muttered.

The boy is slightly taken aback. He didn't actually expect Yume to tell her name when he hadn't yet. He smiles to himself.

"My name is Kise Ryōta." He turned at Yume, smiling at her back. "It's nice to meet you, Manai-chan."

Yume turned after hearing her name called, meeting the boy's gaze. "...It's nice to meet you, too, Kise-kun.."


Author's note:

So yeah, how is it?

Read and Reviews~