Another chapter and the next one is in the making! No, my assignments aren't done yet, just this one is already done. Thank you for the supports and enjoy!

Pairings : Undecided

Warnings : Teikō Middle School Days.

Disclaimer : I own only the OCs.


Chapter 27 - Still waters run deep

The second and last day of Teikō's Cultural Festival was packed with guests even more than the day before. Those who couldn't attend on Saturday, made it on Sunday and there were some returning guests and thus the increase in numbers. Teikō always had successful fairs for the reputation it held and it attracted talented students as an additional bonus.

Events were nearly identical as the the day before, with some variations on the plays and shows in the auditorium. While Yume and Momoi finished their shifts early, the rest were still stuck in their respective classes. Oh, Aomine escaped his duties by being unreasonable and thus told to leave instead of creating more problems for their class.

Early in the day, 1-B received a special guest in the form of a ravenette Captain who appeared lost and hesitant, a behaviour shared by a brown-haired waitress. Thankfully, nothing more happened after serving a cup of coffee and a slice of shortcake.

In the midst of the enjoyment, few students were unable to vacate their shifts due to their popularities, which included a certain rookie blonde-model and a ghostly pale-skinned male. The former bringing in customers for his looks and the latter as a faint presence in his class's Haunted House.

"Your class is quite popular, Dai-chan. I heard the news, but it really is something. My friends said there really is a wandering ghost...!" Momoi commented with a shiver as she pictured a bloodied, long-haired ghost crawling towards her like a spider.

Class 1-C was indeed swarmed with people, mostly couples who seemed intent on taking advantages of the scary events for affections. The rumour of the wandering ghost popped out on the first day and had spread far and wide by now that even the teachers were worried about having to call an exorcist. However, since there had yet to be casualties, it was left alone.

"Ba-ka! Of course it was just a ruse. It must be inchou's work." Aomine waved off that stupid rumour. He slept his classes away, but he knew there's nothing like an extra presence in his class.

Now that he thought about it, there was an empty desk in his class. Maybe the owner was a delinquent who skipped classes instead of sleeping them away like him? Even Aomine couldn't escape his mother's wrath if he skipped like that.

"Whatever it is, it does good to the advertising." Yume added her thought while hiding her amusement. She was now sure who was it behind the white fabric that scared off the guests. "1-D has many female guests..." she glanced at another class who was swarmed mostly by the female populations.

Momoi turned her attention to the class next to Aomine's and she instantly knew what her friend was talking about. "Ah, that. Kise-kun is in 1-D. You remember him right, Yuu-chan? The boy we met at karaoke."

The memories of a certain blonde came up in her mind along with Momoi saying how he was popular in school and his ragged appearances when they last met, which explained the ensuing chaos. Nevertheless, Yume didn't want to be caught up in that.

"...L-Let's just go, Sat-chan." she tugged on her friend's hand to move faster.

Aomine trailed after the two girls, sparing a glance towards the crowded hallway of 1-D. He could see this blonde guy, taking pictures with girls, different ones, and many more in line through the door's wide opening. He shrugged before walking away.

The Photo-booth his class was setting up turned out to be a great success, thanks for his good-looks. But Kise wished he could enjoy the Cultural Festival instead of getting stuck in extra shifts because the girls demanded him and no one else.

Kise really wanted to run towards his little sanctuary at times like this. The peaceful place a brunette led him to. From his peripheral vision, he spotted the familiar honey-amber locks and turned to see. But he could only catch her leaving back.

In one of the pictures taken, it was of him, glancing to one side towards a brown-haired girl with middle-back length and the girl was cropped out of the frame, only half of her body was captured and her face wasn't shown. Kise himself was crowded by girls in the picture, and only his neck up was captured in the picture.

"...Woah! Akashi-kun's class is even more amazing! No doubt it's due to their good-looking boys." Momoi was in awe at the queue which was double her class's cafe, and they were in the same service business.

1-A's cafe was a bit more unique, because it was a Butler Cafe in contrast to 1-B's Animals Cafe. 1-A had some of the most good-looking guys in school, so they were using it to their advantages. And from the looks of things, they succeed big time.

Yume couldn't help but notice the female proportions were at least twice the males. She couldn't grasp the ideas that females seem to go crazy for looks because she wasn't one herself. She knew and noticed good-looking boys, but that's about it.

For example, the redhead's appearances might as well be supreme, no one could deny that fact. But no, Yume would never think of herself being next to him unless she died and revived as a walking dead with no brain intact. Anyone who dreamed of being his lover might as well back out after experiencing his sadistic nature.

"Wait. So you're saying that Akashi, Midorima and Murasakibara caused this mayhem?" Aomine balked, his eyes wide with disbelief. Hell, he understood the redhead's popularity, but Midorima? With that perpetual frown on his face? And Murasakibara? Don't even get him started.

"There's no way, right, Yume?" he asked for confirmation. He knew he was right but he needed someone to agree with him.

Being put in question like that took her off-guard, but she tried her best answering. "Well... In case you haven't noticed, Midorima-kun is quite handsome... (If you look past the frowns) and Murasakibara-kun... is rather cute? (He acts like a child)." she herself wasn't sure.

"...Okay. I need to see this." Aomine conceded, squaring his shoulders as if to prepare for confrontation. "Let's enter, Satsuki, Yume." he walked towards the door confidently, only to have his arm grabbed forcefully it sent him backwards.

"Argh! What's with you, Satsuki?!" he nearly screamed at her, annoyed that she prevented him from advancing. He needed to see those three and their supposed good-looks!

Momoi fumed at her childhood friend's stupidity. "There's something called a 'line', Dai-chan! Ever heard it before? We need to wait, w-a-i-t!" she emphasised each letters.

"Hah?! I don't need that. I want to see now!" Aomine rebutted strongly. He wasn't one to wait.

As the pink-haired girl grew redder and redder with anger by each passing seconds and the tanned boy refusing to back down, the little group earned themselves handfuls of stares from the people waiting in line. And while the two couldn't care less about them, another did.

"U-Uh... Sat-chan? Daiki-kun? Can we cut this short... please...?" she wanted to cry. Whatever she did to deserve this. "P-People are watching...!" she whispered in embarrassment, her cheeks flaming.

Sadly, her plea went unheard as both glared at each other. Ever since Yume knew these two, they often butt heads. It's worrying, really. They were such good friends too. Perhaps the sayings that the more you love, the often you quarrel was true after all?

Yume was about to sigh when she felt a poke on her shoulder. She turned to see who it was - someone she didn't know. "Uh... Can I help you?" it was a girl, a student of Teikō and a first year from the colour of her bow.

"You three are from the Basketball Club like Akashi-san, Midorima-san and Murasakibara-san, aren't you? You can enter now if you want, there's a free table for three. The rest of the customers need four or more, so it's no problem." the kind student explained with a smile, although it appeared a little strained. Maybe it was the light?

Thank good Heavens. She wanted to jump in joy for the much needed invite. Yume nodded happily. "Thank you...!" she smiled joyfully. '...Wait. I'm not a member of the Basketball Club... but.. these two need to calm down now.' she sighed inwardly.

To stop the glaring competition, Yume stepped into their vision, her hand obstructing their view of another. She peered into the tanned teen's dark-shaded eyes first, he needed to cool off most because Momoi was easily pacified. There're inches between their faces and it made her uncomfortable but it wasn't so close for her to squirm.

"Daiki-kun? We can enter now, so please stop glaring." she told him nervously, and without taking note of his reaction - his widening eyes - she turned to her bestfriend this time. "And Sat-chan? It's fine, she told me it's a table for three and the other guests need at least four seats." she continued at the blinking pinkette.

Momoi had already ceased her glaring when a hand descended between her and her childhood friend and said hand belonged to her bestfriend, so she complied and stopped. "Really? That's great! I want to try the cake!" she cheered and walked towards the door while pulling the brunette with her.

"This way, please." the girl student smiled and guided the two girls. Aomine was still frozen in his place.

Noticing his lack of presence, Yume turned to see the still boy and arched her eyebrow in confusion. "Daiki-kun? We can enter now..." she repeated, thinking he didn't hear her the first time.

"O-Oh.. Uh, yeah... Okay..." he finally returned to awareness, averting his gaze to the side as he followed after the girls.

It confused her but she didn't question further. There's a lot of spectators here and she preferred to sit and escape the prying eyes as soon as she could. Besides, she was sure it was nothing serious. It's Aomine after all.

The class's interiors were nicely decorated, a British-style of the Victorian era. The tablecloths were white with intricate gold linings and a flower in a small vase in the centre of each tables. The waiters were all in a butler outfit, with a black bow-tie, white shirt, black pants and completed with a tailcoat. It appeared the girls were either in kitchen duties or doing advertisements.

"Woah! It's like we're in a cafe in London!" Momoi muttered with a satisfied smile, hurrying the both of them towards the empty seats while Aomine trailed behind, slightly disoriented.

Yume had to agree. A lot of time must be spent on the decorations, they were detailed and perfectly placed. But 1-A was where a certain perfectionist and a redhead were studying. That explained this whole things. Of course, the rest of the students must have worked hard too.

Soon after the three took their seats, a waiter came by with a while fabric hanging on his right arm, a note in his hand. "Okaeri-nasai mase, danna-sama, ojou-sama." he bowed politely. "Is there anyone in particular you wish to serve you?"

It was the classic greetings in cosplay cafes and somehow disturbing for Yume, she'd never been to those kind of cafes before. She didn't even frequent ordinary cafes often, so she felt weirded out with these overly classy and formal stuffs.

"Are Akashi-kun, Midorima-kun and Murasakibara-kun here?" Momoi asked, bubbly. She was curious how the boys would look with this butler outfit!

"Ah. Akashi-san isn't here, but Murasakibara and Midorima are here. Should I call them for you?" he questioned with a gentle smile, he must have trained that.

Momoi was a bit down she couldn't see Akashi in the cool outfit, but at least the other two were here. "Yes, please!" she chirped.

"I understand, danna-sama, ojou-sama. They'll be here in a moment." the male student spoke before he bowed and left.

"...Even if this is a Butler Cafe, for students' standard, it's quite well-made, isn't it, Yuu-chan? Even the waiters spoke so butler-like!" Momoi whispered to her friend, slightly overwhelmed with the unusual situation around her.

Yume nodded in agreement. Although she had nothing to compare this to, it really was over-the-top. "It feels weird here, Sat-chan... Let's leave soon." she mused softly.

"Eh? Aomine-chin, Momo-chin and Mana-chin? You're visiting our cafe?" a voice joined in, the lazy and slightly slurred familiar tone. He wore the classic butler outfit, although the tailcoat appeared too small for him.

Murasakibara wasn't alone, next to him was a frowning butler with a bright green hair. He was grimacing and he didn't look happy seeing the three people in front of him. "Aomine. Momoi. Manai." he greeted curtly and it sounded forced.

While the two girls took in the boys' new look in a positive light, the tanned boy appeared stunned. Then he exploded with laughter. "B-BWAHAHAHAHA! What's with that?! Y-You look stupid! M-Midorima, you actually agreed to this?! B-BWAHAHAHAHA!" he bellowed out loud, pointing his finger at the irked teen with tears in his eyes from laughing too much.

Murasakibara didn't seem to care, he couldn't be bothered to. It was hard enough to move in the unfamiliar clothes, he preferred watching by the sidelines here. It was different for Midorima, who was extremely pissed and irked by the idiot ganguro's stupid laughters.

His growing annoyance was sensed by the girls, and Yume was especially concerned about attracting more public attention. She really had had enough with the stares that came after these group of people.

"Midorima-kun, please don't mind Daiki-kun. He never sees a butler before." she tried pacifying the seething male. What other words could she say? "A-And, uh... I-I think you look nice...!" she praised quickly, blushing from being flustered.

Not noticing how the male stiffened at that, she turned towards her friend for support. "Midorima-kun looks nice, doesn't he, Sat-chan?" she pleaded for her to agree, her eyes moist.

"Of course! You look perfect, Midorin! Mu-kkun too!" Momoi added with a wide smile, complimenting the boys while pinching her childhood friend hard, so that he would stop.

Thankfully, soon the tanned teen winced in pain instead of continuing with his boisterous laughter and the annoyed green butler was appeased, thus crisis was averted. The boys' shift actually ended after taking their orders, so they decided to walk (or dragged) around together.

"Yuu-chan and I are going to see the Choir Club's performance. Do you guys want to come along?" Momoi invited as they walked towards the auditorium, which was already filled with people.

"That's okay." Murasakibara nodded, following after the girls. He was now wearing his school uniform, as did Midorima.

"I don't see why not." Midorima himself was quite interested since the Student Council was invited to the event due to a certain member's involvement with the club.

Aomine knew straightaway this wasn't his kind of thing, but he was bored and he could get a nap for a while, which was great. "I'll go too." he replied last.

Needless to say, his childhood friend nearly had a heart attack after hearing him saying yes to her invitation. "Dai-chan, you're going?! Oh, wait. You're thinking of napping, aren't you? And here I thought you hit your head when I wasn't looking." she shook her head hopelessly.

And so, the little group of five entered the auditorium and found themselves seats. They managed to get good seats in the two rows before the middle row and seated themselves. Three minutes in, and the show started with a melodious piano playing and another musical instrument's soft and gentle sound.

The unidentified sound turned out to be a violin, the sounds it produced were ringing like crystal, pure and clear. The curtain was lifted to present the choir group with a familiar ravenette in the middle of the cluster. It was Miyazawa, all prettied up.

What surprising was an unexpected extra presence who certainly didn't belong to the Choir Club; a first year with a sadistic nature, an overwhelming charisma with an obnoxious redhead. No, that wasn't Yume. It's something a green alien from outer space inputted to her head because there's no way she could pair such words to her President.

Yes, it's absolutely not her. No one could hold her responsible. It wasn't even her thoughts.

Really, though. Her President really was a man with hundreds of talents, the Mr. Perfect he was. She hadn't heard anything about his participation as the Choir Club's violinist. Had he been doing this since day one or was he a substitute for someone else?

"I didn't know Akashi-kun could play the violin." Yume whispered quietly as she listened to the songs, which were nice as relaxing. "Although, I'm not surprised..." she mumbled the last part to herself.

Midorima adjusted his glasses from his seat next to the brunette. "I had heard him playing before. He had been playing since he was a kid."

"I knew too." Momoi nodded, confirming the information. "I had never heard him playing until now though."

"Aka-chin can do anything..." Murasakibara complimented the redhead's able-ness. There seemed like nothing he couldn't do.

Through all this, Aomine was peacefully sleeping in his seat, enjoying a good nap from the lullaby he was listening to as he dozed off to Dream Land. His soft snores even harmonised with the tunes at some point. After the show ended, it could be said that everyone in the hall were entranced and genuinely enjoyed the performance.

As the crowds began to disperse, the group of friends approached the stage and the Choir Club's members who were resting and winding themselves down, happy smiles etched on their features. They practiced hard for days and they put on their best performance. The rewards were the joyous and invigorating applauses they received after every stage.

"It's an amazing performance, Miyazawa-san. Everyone else too." Yume smiled as she walked towards the flustered ravenette, her cheeks red (from the praise or from her tiredness, she didn't know).

Miyazawa folded her arms, her head held high as she tried to appear smug. "Hmph. We will definitely win competitions." she stated and faced the brunette. "And the Student Council will then approve of our budget proposal."

Yume nodded in assent. With how things were going, her statement was plausible. They were amazing and could even be better through more polishing. "I will joyfully wait for that day, Miyazawa-san." she told her sincerely.

Said girl was blushing even more. Miyazawa would never admit to it, but her spirits were lifted from the brunette's visit that day and the confidence she expressed towards her club. She was encouraged, given a goal to strive for, and for that, she was forever thankful. She glanced at the Student Council's Treasurer before she puffed and left without another word.

"What an attitude..." Aomine raised his eyebrow at the rude behaviour the girl displayed. He wasn't one for manners but even he had to say that wasn't nice. And his friend here even praised her and her team.

Momoi turned to the redhead, who had now packed away his violin into its case. "You're incredible too, Akashi-kun! Isn't he, Yuu-chan?" she nudged her friend.

"O-Oh? Y-Yes, you're wonderful up there, Akashi-kun." she complimented with an awkward smile. He really was. Yume never heard any other violin before, but she knew his play was something to revere for.

To any others he would appear smiling at the compliments, but to a certain brunette, she could slightly see the crack in his perfection. He looked vulnerable for one split second, so quick that it seemed like it didn't happen.

"Thank you. It's one of the lessons I throughly enjoyed and one of my favourite pastimes." Akashi confessed with that smile of his, one that seemed perfected through numbers of uses.

Why did he look so sad just then? She didn't imagine it, did she? Yume stole a discreet glance at the redhead. He appeared fine now, just normal Akashi. Maybe she did imagine it after all? The concert ended with confusions for the reserved girl. She doubted she could clear them soon because her President was the main factor in the equation.

Oh, well. For now, she could just enjoy the festival with her band of friends. This opportunity wouldn't come twice.


So yeah, how is it?

Reviews are very much appreciated!

Next time, a Quiz Corner offers prizes for winners and her friends are interested! Will Yume participate with her friends?