Chapter Nine

July, 2018

"That biology test was a lot easier than I thought it'd be." Michi yawns and stretches lazily. "Wish I'd known that before I stayed up late studying for it."

"How late were you up?" Sayuri covers a yawn. "I didn't leave till almost eleven."

"Like...three more hours?" Michi winces. "I was nervous."

"You need sleep to function, you know," Sayuri says sternly. "We've still got another final after lunch."

"I know, I know. But it's only English. I'm more worried about algebra tomorrow." Michi winces. "I really don't want to fail."

"You won't fail," Sayuri says. "But we can go over the algebraic formulas again after school, if you want."

"You are a goddess," Michi says affectionately, throwing an arm around her. "Do you know that?"

"Only at math." Sayuri wrinkles her delicate nose. "And I think I got one of the answers wrong on the biology final."

"How dare," Michi says, straight-faced. "One wrong. Only a ninety-nine instead of a perfect hundred. Shishio-sensei might disown you–"

"He might!" Sayuri protests, but she's laughing. "He told me he has great expectations for me. I don't want to let him down."

Michi squeezes her shoulders. "The day you let Shishio-sensei down, the world will end. You could lie down in the middle of class and start snoring and Shishio-sensei would just say you had been studying too hard and needed a break."

Sayuri rolls her eyes. "He's harsher than that."

"I dunno–" Michi breaks off. Sayuri, looking at her questioningly, goes still as she hears the loud voice from inside the classroom.

"It's pathetic, really. You know, I felt bad for her at first, but she's totally just being all chummy with Ichijo so that the Flower Princes will notice her. I mean, have you seen her fawning over Tatsuya-sama? It's so annoying."

Sayuri slips out from under Michi's arm. Michi, already backstepping, reaches for her, too late.

Aiko's dark eyes widen when she sees them in the doorway, but she doesn't lower her voice. "Oh hey, Tachibana. Aoi and I were just talking about you." She flips her braid over one shoulder, a malicious edge to her voice. "We noticed that your name is written the same way as that girl in the myth we're reading in Lit. Remember it?"

Michi clamps a hand on Sayuri's arm. "Yeah. We read part of it in class," she says, trying to sound neutral. Her heart is beating fast in her ears. "Why?"

"Oh, no reason," Aiko says. "Aoi just noticed that you're a lot like the character. Isn't that funny?" She laughs. Michi presses her lips together. The girl in the story was only a side character, a maid to the princess. They hadn't read the end in class, but she knows it. It's one of the more famous myths. The maid seduced the prince and ended up causing a war between the two nations. The princess died. The maid was hung.

"Did your parents name you after her?" Aoi sneers. Michi smiles humorlessly. "No, they didn't," she says, tightening her grip on Sayuri's arm. Sayuri ignores her. "Kim-san, you finished the myth? The assignment was only to read the first half." She smiles sweetly. "I didn't take you as an overachiever."

Aoi's jaw works. Aiko cuts in smoothly, "Oh, the end is the most interesting part. Especially what happens to Michi. Shishio-sensei said it was deserved, though, didn't he?"

Michi shrugs. "I didn't really like the myth," she says, glancing around at the mostly empty classroom. The only students are the fan club members and a few boys chatting near the back who are pretending not to listen. She elbows Sayuri as the other girl opens her mouth. "Come on. Let's go find Nagisa," she says, trying to defuse the situation. She regrets the words a split second later.

"Being Ichijo's maid again?" Aoi sneers. "Careful, Ichijo. Look how the princess ended up."

I'm not getting drawn into a stupid cat fight, Michi thinks, setting her jaw stubbornly. She tugs at Sayuri's arm again. "Come on."

Sayuri shrugs her off. "What are you saying, exactly?" she asks levelly.

"They're saying they're jealous," Michi interrupts, no longer caring about subtlety. "Let's go, Sayuri."

"I'm saying your stupid little maid is gonna backstab you one day," Aoi snaps, also ignoring the fine art of subtlety. Sayuri turns icy green eyes on her. "Michi isn't my maid."

"Really?" Aiko's smile is taunting. "Our mistake."

Sayuri tilts her head. She looks as if she's considering the fine art of body slamming Aiko into her desk. Michi yanks at her arm. "They're just trying to pick a fight," she mutters. "I don't care. Let's just go." She looks around the classroom again. A few of the boys look indecisive, but no one's taking their side. Most of the girls are watching Sayuri, waiting to see what she'll do. Aiko's mocking smile widens. "Aoi's got a point, Ichijo. Although I don't think any of the princes are desperate enough to run off with Tachibana."

A few of the girls laugh. Michi's shoulders curl inwards. She hates confrontation. Sayuri looks more than ready for a fight, but then news will get out and even the girls from other classes will hate her. Michi doesn't want that.

If someone else would just speak up...

Even as she thinks it, she knows no one will. People only do that in stories–

"Enough, Tsubara," says a familiar voice behind her. Kaname rests a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and a restraining one on Sayuri's. "You've crossed a line. Apologize."

Aiko's dark eyes are wide. Aoi looks as if she's been slapped, pale with fury and humiliation.

Aiko tosses her head and forces a laugh. "Kaname-senpai, we were just talking about the literature homework. I don't get why Tachibana's so upset–"

"Apologize, Tsubara."

Aiko goes pale. Michi doesn't blame her; Kaname's hazel-green eyes are almost as icy as Sayuri's. He isn't smiling.

"That was kinda mean, Aiko," one of the fan club girls mumbles, not looking at her. Just like that, the mood shifts. One of the boys who hangs out with Nagisa speaks up. "What d'you mean, Tachibana's her maid? They've been best friends since, like, forever."

"She's just jealous," his seatmate says, shrugging. "But yeah, that was pretty mean."

Kaname doesn't take his gaze off Aiko. She ducks her head, still pale. "My bad," she mutters.

"I won't allow bullying in this classroom," Kaname says evenly. "If I hear you've been doing it again, I'll tell Shishio-sensei. Understood?"

Aiko nods. Kaname smiles. Somehow his smile is scarier. "Good." He steers Michi and Sayuri over to their seats. The classroom gingerly lapses back into conversation. Aiko storms out, her eyes over-bright. Aoi and a few other members of the Prince Nagisa Protection Squad follow, but most stay in their seats, casting nervous glances at Kaname. Michi can already hear their adrenaline-laced whispers turning into excitement.

"That was so scary!" one girl says, awe in her voice. The girl sitting beside her wriggles breathlessly. "He looked like the prince from the story! So cool!"

"Prince Kaname," another says, her voice hushed. Michi sighs and gently smacks her forehead into the desk. She misses Tatsuya's reassuring bulk beside her.

"Are you alright?" Kaname breaks off from talking softly with his sister. Sayuri folds her arms across her chest, still frowning, but her face softens with concern as she looks over at Michi. Michi sits up again. "I'm fine," she says, shrugging. "They were just being stupid." And Aiko's probably been looking for a chance to pick a fight since last week, she adds silently to herself. She's more surprised that she tried to drag Sayuri into it, too. Even if Aiko isn't part of the Kaname-senpai Adoration Club, no one wants to get on Nagisa's or Jirou's bad side by trash talking Sayuri. Even Tatsuya is known to wake up enough to glare at boys who tease Sayuri too much.

"I should have told her off," Sayuri says flatly. "She's been egging the other girls on. Someone needs to take her down a peg."

"Let me handle that." Kaname glances at Michi. "You saw she was trying to pick a fight, didn't you?" he says. "And you didn't respond. Well done."

Michi colors. She's never heard Kaname praise anyone beside his sister before. "I didn't want Sayuri to get into trouble."

"You handled it well." Kaname rumples her hair affectionately. "But from now on, make sure Nagisa or one of the others is with you, okay? Just until this whole thing settles down."

Michi nods. She probably would have nodded if Kaname asked her to jump out the window.

"Alright," Sayuri sighs. "But if they start a fight, I'm finishing it."

"Fair enough." Kaname gets to his feet. "I'm going to go find Tatsuya. Someone should stick around Michi for a while. How about you two come with?"

"I don't need a bodyguard," Michi protests, flushing deeper.

"Tatsuya won't mind. He likes spending time with you, anyway." Kaname nudges his sister. "Let's go, Yuri."

Michi gets to her feet. The words he likes spending time with you echo pleasantly around her head. Just as a friend, she thinks, that's all he meant, but they stay stuck in her head for the rest of the day, whirling around and round in her mind.

Despite Kaname's warning, the rest of the week goes by without trouble. Aoi still looks murderous when she brushes by in the hall, and sometimes the other girls from the squad bump shoulders roughly in the bathroom or elbow her out of the way, but one of the princes seems to always be just behind her, casually moving between her and the crowd.

Aiko ignores her completely. Michi almost feels bad for her. The princes used to tolerate her the way they did with all the girls who would cluster around them, but now even Nagisa won't speak to her. Some of the other fan club members are avoiding her, too, afraid of losing their only connection to the Flower Princes. The formerly popular girl looks miserable.

Michi's noticed a shift in the class dynamic lately, too. Without Aiko, the class 1-A clique has dissolved. She sees classmates hanging out with freshmen from other classes, even upperclassmen from time to time. The girls still chatter about the Flower Princes, and the boys still make googly eyes at Sayuri, but Rose Academy has finally started to feel like a real school.

And one other thing has changed for the better, too.

Michi licks her ice cream. Coldness dots her nose. Sayuri giggles and passes her a napkin. Nagisa beats her to it, swiping a finger across the tip of her nose. "Thanks for the ice cream, Jiro," he says, licking his finger.

Jiro grunts. "I decided to let you come back," he says loftily to Sayuri. "This way I can beat you for the entire next semester."

"Like I beat you?" Sayuri takes a bite of her dripping cone. "I look forward to it, Kirishima."

"You came in second for the whole school, though, didn't you, Jirou?" Nagisa says helpfully, stealing a bite of Sayuri's cone. Sayuri pretends not to notice, but she tilts the dripping ice cone away from her lap. Michi holds hers closer as Nagisa leans against her. "Uh-uh. Steal someone else's," she says, and yelps as Jirou leans forward and takes a massive bite of her cone. "Gerroff!"

Kaname laughs. "You need better defenses, Michi."

"Why? She came in last of all of us," Jirou says wickedly, swallowing. "Even Saito, and he sleeps through all his classes."

Tatsuya blinks hazily. "I listen."

"Yeah, right. You were snoring halfway through the geography final." Jirou eyes Sayuri's half-eaten cone. She takes a deliberate bite, not taking her eyes off him.

"Hey, just because I'm not superhuman like the rest of you guys," Michi starts, a little irked.

"Michi did really well," Sayuri says loyally. "I bet she got a higher score than you, Kirishima."

"Um." Michi wriggles uncomfortably. Jirou's grey eyes glint. "Oh, really? Want to make a bet?"

"UM," Michi says, much louder.

"So what should we do over summer break?" Nagisa asks, stealing the opportunity to take another bite of Michi's cone. She glares at him. He smiles winningly, wiggling his mini vanilla ice cream moustache. She reaches for it, intending to pay him back in kind for what he did earlier, and squeaks and almost falls off the bench as he dodges.

"We should meet up for the summer festival," Kaname says, setting her back on the bench between himself and Nagisa. "There's one at Ryuudou Temple every year."

"We could catch fireflies near the river at night," Sayuri proposes, warming to the idea.

"I want to go to a music festival!" Nagisa bounces in his seat.

"There's a fireworks festival in August," Tatsuya says unexpectedly.

"It's settled." Kaname nods. "Shall we exchange phone numbers?"

"I've already got Sayuri-chan's!"

"Geez, just give me your phone, Ichijo."

"Tatsuya, I don't think I have yours…"

"Here." A silver iPhone is thrust under her nose. Michi looks up into very dark blue eyes. "Oh," she stammers, "I don't have a phone."

Tatsuya tilts his head. "Why not?"

"My parents said I can't have one until high school." She looks down again. "Sorry."

Tatsuya doesn't move. She stares at his black vans, embarrassed.

"Pen."

She blinks. "What?"

"Pen," he repeats, gesturing at the backpack by her feet. Bemused, she digs through it and hands him one. He sits down on the edge of the table and takes her wrist, uncapping the pen with his teeth.

His palm is cool against her skin. He braces her arm against his knee and carefully, trying not to press too hard, writes a phone number on her arm. "Now you can call me," he says simply, and hands her the pen.

"Thank you," she says, suddenly shy. He nods and goes back over to Kaname.

"I can give you mine too, right?" Nagisa asks, appearing at her elbow. Michi smiles. "Of course."

"Not that you really need it, since you're across the hall," Kaname says, writing his down anyways, after Nagisa finishes with an extra swirl that leaves an ink splotch on the back of her hand. Sayuri takes the pen from him. "For emergencies," she says firmly. "And murders."

"Hitting your emo stage a little early, Ichijo?" Jirou drawls. "And don't go looking at me like that, Tachibana. Of course I'm signing your stupid arm. Gimme."

Michi grins and holds her arm out wordlessly. Jirou turns it over in his hands, searching for a bare patch of skin, and shrugs. "Don't wash it off," he orders, scribbling his number on the back of her hand above Nagisa's ink splotch. Michi hugs her arm to her chest. "I won't."

Sayuri wriggles closer and threads her fingers through Michi's. Her hand is cold from holding her ice cream cone. "And we're going to finish that anime, right?"

"Yep!"

"Can I watch too? I like anime. What anime is it?" Nagisa asks without waiting for an answer. "Is it Achromatize? Ooh, is it Elf Tails? Have you seen One Hit?"

"We can watch all of them," Michi says, laughing.

"But not until Michi and I have finished Snow White with the Black Hair," Sayuri adds firmly. "And Liberate! You've been talking about that one for weeks."

"Oh, I finished Liberate! already," Michi says sheepishly. "I'm on VolleyBallll! now."

"Traitor." Sayuri nudges her shoulder teasingly. "Now you have to promise that you won't watch any more anime without me all break."

"Um..."

"I want to watch too," Nagisa says, pouting. Michi wraps an arm around his shoulders and pulls him into the huddle. "We'll have an anime weekend at my house after," she promises. "You can pick the anime."

Nagisa cheers up immediately. "I'll bring ice cream!"

"Is it alright if I come?" Kaname asks.

"Of course," Sayuri says, looking a little offended that he would even ask.

"Tatsuya too," Kaname adds, patting Tatsuya's shoulder as his friend blinks sleepily. "It'll be good for him to get out of his room and take a break from gaming."

"Not until I beat you," Tatsuya mumbles, yawning.

"You bunch of otakus," Jirou snorts. "Fine. I'll bring some actual food so you all don't starve."

"Inviting yourself to the party, Kirishima?" Sayuri raises a pale brow.

"That's very rude, Jirou," Nagisa says seriously, laying his curly head on Michi's shoulder. Jirou ignores him. "Tachibana, I'll bring red bean buns."

"He can come," Michi says immediately. Sayuri turns green puppy eyes on her. "Traitor! You're choosing that jerk over your best friend?"

Jirou smirks. "Every person has their price."

"We'll finish our anime first," Michi says, squeezing her friend's hand. "And if Kirishima's mean we'll banish him from the pillow fort."

"Wow. I'm soooo scared." Jirou rolls his eyes.

"Don't worry, Kirishima. I won't let them banish you," Tatsuya says seriously. Everyone stares at him.

"...Thanks, Saito," Jirou says finally. Nagisa nestles his head in Michi's jacket. "It's gonna be the best summer vacation ever," he says contentedly.

Michi tentatively rests her cheek on his golden curls. He smells like sunflowers and spring. Of course he does, she thinks absently, watching the others. Just like how Tatsuya smells like a fall breeze. It's a shoujo thing. It's a good shoujo thing.

Beside her, Sayuri curls up and rests her own head on Michi's shoulder. Michi shifts to make her comfortable, appreciating her warmth after the chill of the ice cream. Tatsuya looks like he's in danger of nodding off on Kaname's shoulder. Kaname is teasing Jirou, his ever-present gentle smile at odds with what he's saying. Jirou sputters and argues, but his gaze keeps flickering, as if he's trying not to look in their direction. Of all the Flower Princes, she's noticed, Jirou watches Sayuri the most.

Michi's lashes flick against Nagisa's golden curls. She thinks of her scribbled notes in her old journal back in her room. She keeps forgetting to update it. She wants to write moments like these down, in case...

Sayuri's breathing turns even. Her eyes are closed. Michi shifts again and gently pulls her closer so she won't slip off the bench. Nagisa looks as if he's falling asleep too, but she can never tell when he's just faking it. Still, it's a breezy July day, the sunlight warm on her face and puddled on her bare feet, perfect for a nap. The coolness of the ice cream is still sitting pleasantly in her stomach. Finals are over, school is done, and she starts thinking of the next forty days, of anime and red bean buns and pillow forts and Sayuri and Kaname right across the hall, of spending the weekends with Nagisa and Tatsuya and Jirou…

And she thinks, sleepily, that Nagisa is right, and that this will be the best summer vacation ever.

But I should update my journal tonight, just in case…

But she never finishes the thought, because the warm July sunlight is hot and heavy on her skin, and Nagisa's curly head is as fluffy as a pillow, and Sayuri is warm and cozy beside her, and she's falling asleep.

A/N

This absence of writing block is starting to scare me .

What did you think of my -oh-so-subtle anime titles...?