Nanao looked over and smiled as she saw the boy with long black hair run through the door heading her way. His hair wrapped around his face as he clenched onto his bag, trying to keep it from falling off his shoulders.

"Hey, Nanao!" He greeted her, his voice slightly breathless from running.

Nanao sighed as she rolled her eyes, looking at her watch. "You're late, Baji..." Her voice trailed off as he took off his bag and sat down on the piano bench next to her.

"Sorry," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I got caught up in something and lost track of time. I didn't mean to make you wait so long. It won't happen again, I promise. I'm really sorry for being late...again," Baji apologized, bowing down his head repeatedly.

Nanao nodded as she took his bag, pulled out his music book, and placed it on the rack. "Just remember I'm doing this for free, so the least you can do is show up on time," Nanao reminded him softly.

Baji straightened his back, nodding his head as he grabbed a hair tie and put his hair up, cracking his knuckles, and started his warm-up, running his fingers across the piano keys gently. His eyes locked on each note as he played. A small smile stretched across his lips, hearing the soft notes of the piano resonating throughout the room. He could feel the warmth radiating off the keys into his body, causing him to relax.

Nanao nodded as he finished before turning the sheets in his book, "Okay, let's start with reviewing, Let it Be," she told him as she placed the song on the rack.

Baji nodded, putting his fingers back on the keys, and started playing. He kept up with the notes, making sure to keep them nice and clean. He had been playing for some time now. His love for the piano started when he was younger. His mother used to play it for him all the time. She loved the piano. It was one of the only things she brought with her when they had to move. She used to play for him all the time, but she had to stop when she got sick. He knew it broke her heart when she had to stop, so Baji tried to learn some songs to play for her around the house. Granted, they were little kid nursery songs, but they were still songs nonetheless. Songs that his mom loved to listen to.

But this year, he was going to really surprise her. There's a winter piano competition at the beginning of November, and he was going to compete in it and play for his mom in front of everyone. It was the same competition that she competed in when she first started playing. So he wanted everything to be perfect. The only problem was that he sucked at playing, and because it was a surprise, he didn't want to ask his mom for help.

He ended up finding Nanao one day playing in the practice music room at the community theater alone. She was amazing. She played like it was second nature to her. So Baji did the only thing he could think to do at the time. He begged her to teach him how to play. She originally refused, but after a week of following her around and begging, she finally gave in and started teaching him. They would meet up once a week for an hour and a half. He didn't have any money to pay for lessons, so they agreed that as long as he showed up on time and practiced at home, she would help him. But lately, he's been struggling with the first requirement, and he knew it was starting to annoy her.

"Baji…Earth to Baji…"

Baji snapped out of his thoughts as he looked over at Nanao, who was waving her hand in his face. He blinked his eyes rapidly before looking back at her.

"What?" He asked confusedly.

"Are you listening, or are you daydreaming again? " She asked, giving him a look.

Baji shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck, sheepishly looking away from her, "Uhm, I'm sorry, I was just lost in thought."

Nanao smiled as she turned the pages in the music book again, "It's okay. I was just telling you that you can start practicing your performance song."

"Oh! Right," Baji nodded as he stood up, adjusting himself before sitting back down on the bench. He scanned the page and looked down as he began playing.

Nanao sat there silently, gently playing with the ends of Baji's hair as she watched him play. Only speaking up whenever he missed a key or got off tune. He wasn't a natural. He's actually far from one, but he doesn't give up. He's a perfectionist. He just keeps on practicing over and over again until he gets it right. Sometimes, she'd have to force him to stop and remind him that he wouldn't be a pro overnight.

He played over and over again until he stopped after the fifth time. "So, how'd I do?" Baji questioned hopefully.

She looked up at him, "You've gotten a lot better," she smiled at him before taking his music book and making notes in it. "You've still got a long way to go, but you're getting there," She nodded.

The smile returned to Baji's lips as he jumped up excitedly and clapped, "Alright! Thanks, Nanao!" He exclaimed, happily hugging her.

She laughed lightly, patting the top of his head before he stepped back.

"Well, I should get going. Thank you for helping me," Baji thanked.

Nanao nodded before she playfully poked him on the nose with her pencil, "Remember to be on time next time, no more of this being late. Next time you're late, you owe me 1000 yen," Nanao told him sternly.

Baji groaned and ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. He sighed, looking up, "Fine," he huffed out.

"So, where are you off to now?" Nanao asked him curiously as she followed him outside.

"I'm actually going to go hang out with my friends after this," he answered.

Nanao smirked as she skipped in front of him, "Oh yeah? You better not be doing bad kid things," she joked.

"Haha! No! Nothing like that!" He exclaimed as Nanao laughed. Baji shook his head as he tried to cover his laughs. "We're just going to the arcade. Can't get into too much trouble at an arcade," he reassured her with a chuckle.

"Somehow, I think you'd still be able to find a way to get yourself into trouble," She teased with a smirk on her face as she started to walk in the opposite direction. "Well, I'll let you go. Don't go doing bad kid things now." She waved her hand at him before walking away.

"Hey, guys!" Baji called out as he ran over to his friends waiting for him by the arcade entrance.

"Where've you been, man?" Pah asked as they all walked into the building.

He shrugged in response, "Had to go to tutoring. I ended up showing up late, so I couldn't really tell her I needed to leave early. She'd kill me," he chuckled a little to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

His friends just laughed along with him, joking that he needed all the tutoring he could get, as they all gathered around the games, trying to figure out what to play first. They spent most of their time playing different games and just generally goofing off, not really caring about winning anything but having fun nonetheless.

"Where've you been lately, Mikey? Haven't seen you around much, but besides at the meetings," Baji questioned his friend as he put down some coins on the game that was showing him the next level.

Mikey nodded as he sucked on his lollypop, watching Baji play, "Yeah, I've been stuck at home lately. Emma's been having a hard time again."

Baji sighed and rubbed his hand across the back of his neck in slight worry, "Shit, sorry, man?"

"Is she doing better?" Pah asked, leaning against one of the games snacking on a bag of popcorn.

"Yeah, actually. She ended up going to school today," Mikey explained as he sucked on his sucker.

Mikey continued to stare at the screen as he watched Baji play. His mind began to wander back to the last few days. Nanao's been over every day for the last week, checking up and helping take care of Emma, which he couldn't be more thankful for. And every day, Emma's been getting better to the point where she was finally able to go back to school today. He just hoped that even with Emma getting better, Nanao would still come by and hang out with them.

"Mikey? Earth to Mikey!" Mikey snapped back into reality when he felt someone grab his shoulder, shaking him slightly. "Sorry, what did you say? What's up?"

Mitsuya gave a chuckle, "I'm just saying that we should go for a ride to the beach, with Emma better and everything. She always likes going there. What's got you so spaced out?"

Draken laughed as he nudged Mikey playfully, "You thinking about a certain purple hair princess?" He joked, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly as the other three started laughing, causing Mikey to blush slightly out of embarrassment.

"Purple hair princess?" Mitsuya joked as he nudged Mikey's shoulder, "Who's the lucky lady?"

The laughter grew in intensity now. Mikey just stood there quietly, blushing lightly as he rolled his eyes.

"It's no one. Kenchin's just being stupid," he huffed, crossing his arms.

"Oh, so now she's no one?" Draken teased again.

"Shut it, Kenchin!" Mikey yelled, shoving his stomach. "You know what I mean. Now stop making jokes," he cried, his face turning red.

"Alright, alright, we'll stop!" Draken chuckled, pulling Mikey to his side. "Her name's Nanao!" Draken blurted out to his friends. Earning him a punch to the side from Mikey.

There were many loud gasps and groans of excitement from the boys as they all cornered Mikey, not letting him escape.

"She must be really hot!" Pah laughed as he grabbed Mikey's head and gave him a noogie.

Baji started to make a joke before he stopped as he began to reprocess what Draken just announced, "Wait, did you just say Nanao?" Baji asked.

Mikey could feel his face heat up even more as he looked away from his friends.

"Yeah. She's been coming over for a week now to check up on Emma," Draken laughed as he rested his arm on top of Mikey's head.

Baji looked between his two friends, still processing the information, "Does this Nanao have long purple hair and have a scar over her eye?" He questioned, looking towards Mikey.

"Yeah, that's the one," Draken replied proudly.

"Wait, how do you know that?" Mikey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nanao's my tutor. I see her every Thursday," Baji told him, trying to connect the dots. He then looked over at his embarrassed friend before bursting out laughing. "Wait, you have a crush on Nanao!"

Mikey blushed even harder and buried his head in his hands as everyone around him laughed.

"You know she's like 20, right?" Baji asked, poking Mikey in the side.

"She's only 18, asshole," Mikey retorted, shoving him away from him.

Mitsuya and Pah snickered as they watched Mikey get defensive about his crush.

"Wait, she's 18?" Mitsuya asked as he cocked his head to the side.

Draken nodded as he looked down at his embarrassed friend.

"But, you're 16?" Pah asked confused.

Mikey blushed even harder as he tried to walk away, but Draken had a hold on him.

"What can he say? He likes older women," Draken joked, smiling widely at his friends.

Baji then nudged Mikey again, "And apparently taller women too," he added with a smirk. "Nanao's like what 12 centimeters taller than you?" he joked as he playfully measured him.

Mikey just crossed his arms as he shook his head, "She's not that tall."

"But she is taller than you," Draken smirked as he leaned towards Mikey slightly.

Baji smirked as he crossed his arms, leaning against the game, "Well, good luck with that man. But you might as well cut your losses while you're ahead."

Mikey glared at Baji, who just smiled cheekily, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"First of all, she doesn't do delinquents," Baji told him, turning the playful conversation seriously. "She doesn't even know I'm part of Toman."

The boys all stopped laughing and blinked at him, "Why's that?" Pah asked.

Baji sighed as he shrugged, "Apparently, she's had a bad experience with gangs. We never talked about it personally, but she has made some side comments about them here and there. Enough to make me not want to advertise I'm with Toman."

Everyone looked down at Mikey, but while they thought he'd be upset about the news, he just simply shrugged his shoulders, sucking on his lollypop, no longer embarrassed about his crush, "She just hasn't had any good experiences."

The others cocked their heads and looked at him, surprised at his answer, but Mikey just shrugged his shoulders.

Baji frowned, "I'm serious, Mikey. You better watch out. She may look like some sweet girl, but she doesn't put up with shit."

Mikey smiled as he shrugged, "I'll keep that in mind."

His friends sighed as Mikey didn't look at all fazed at what Baji had just told him.

Baji looked back up at him and sighed, running his hand across his face, "Your funeral, man," he muttered sarcastically.

Mikey smirked as he took his sucker and pointed it at him, "At least it'll be a cause worth dying for," Mikey laughed as he popped the sucker into his mouth.

Draken smirked as he kneeled down, throwing his arm around Mikey's shoulder, "You're a dumbass, you know that right," he stated as he patted his best friend's shoulder.

"So I've been told," Mikey replied smugly before sticking his tongue out at Draken, making him laugh as the laughter of his friends filled the air.