Akane woke to the chatter if students passing her door in the morning as they headed for breakfast. She sat up from her bed, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. She hadn't slept well after Aido's sudden departure. His words left a cold chill in her blood. She was glad she'd get the opportunity to learn more, but at what cost? Akane decided not to dwell on the mess she found herself in for now and got out of bed and into a well-needed shower.
By the time she was dressed, Miu was back and talking excitedly about the big ball that was coming up in a few weeks.
"It's going to be amazing!" she exclaimed as Akane got comfortable, propping her pillow up on the headboard and leaning back to start on her Physics homework. She paid little attention to Miu's chatter as she busied herself with unpacking her bag until the inevitable mention of the Night Class.
"Even the Night Class will be there! Isn't that great? We get to dance and talk with them, and not have Cross and Kiryu getting in the way. I can't wait to dance with Idol!" She continued with her dizzy fantasies, as Akane tapped her pen irritably on the edge of her book. "Ok, that's me done!" Miu finally declared after putting her empty duffle bag away. "Are you coming for breakfast, Akane?" she asked with a cute tilt of her head. Akane shook her head, keeping her eyes on her work.
Miu sighed, trudged to her bed and sat, scrutinising her friend as she evaded her with her homework. After several minutes of silence, Akane couldn't help herself and quickly glanced at Miu.
"Ha!" she exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Akane. "Something happened, didn't it? Didn't it!?" Akane groaned, flopping to her side with her book over her face. She paled further when she pulled herself back together and peeked from behind her book. She knew what the look on Miu's face meant. More sleepovers!
It'd been another round of Hell on Earth for Akane that Sunday night, and following Monday. Miu had organised a sleepover, but thankfully, only with Kimiko and her roommate, Naomi.
"I don't think I can cope with much more of this!" Akane moaned tiredly at lunch on Tuesday as she stalked her way through a glaring crowd of Idol fans to her seat, following Miu as she twittered away about the academy ball.
"It's still weeks away Miu, why are you so excited?" Kimiko asked over a plate of fried, breaded, spiced tofu, pointing her fork at her friend before sinking it into her meal.
"I'm excited because I bought my dress over the weekend! Haven't either of you been listening to a single thing I've said?" Miu huffed, crossing her arms as Kimiko and Akane shrugged simultaneously, with similar looks of indifference.
Akane sniggered at Miu's pouting and decided to play nice and asked Miu about her dress.
"Oh, it's beautiful! My mom let me order with this famous designer friend of hers. Her collection was beautiful, but I settled on this blue one. It's really cute and falls just above my knees with this frilly underskirt to make it flair out from my waist and off my legs, but not too puffy. I got blue because it'll match Idol's eyes," she finished dreamily.
Miu noticed Akane roll her eyes at the mention of the Idol or the Night Class and couldn't resist the teasing jibe she sent with a playful prod in her friend's side.
"And what dress are you wearing for Idol, Akane?" Akane stiffened, sensing the eyes of many possessive Day Class girls boring into her back.
"I'm not going." Miu's fingers stopped their assault on Akane's ribs. She stared at Akane as if she'd just been told the most devastating news imaginable.
"What do you mean, you're not going? Of course, you're going! Everyone's going! You have to go!"
"It's not compulsory, and I don't dance. So, I'm not going."
"But, but…"
"You're wasting your breath, Miu. Leave her be," Kimiko's calm voice interrupted. Akane nodded in thanks to the blonde before quickly finishing her meal and leaving for her next class without waiting for her friends, all the while, Miu continued to splutter in disbelief.
Night Class this, Night Class that… is that all this school revolves around? Akane grumbled while sat in her Mathematics lesson, frowning at the world out the window. Miu sat beside her, stealing glances out of the corner of her eye.
"Nakamura, please answer this equation for the class," Mr Fujimoto called from the blackboard. Akane stood without complaint and didn't even look at their teacher as she passed. She did what was asked, then sat back in her seat, resuming her staring contest with the trees outside. Miu sighed. Akane was not happy and Miu correctly deduced, it was because of all her pestering about the Night Class.
Akane's mood went downhill even more throughout the week. Aido's attempts to rile up the rest of the students by asking after her at the changeover was getting the desired results. Miu did try not to mention the Night Class as much and stopped pestering Akane about her involvement with Aido, but there was little she couldn't do about the other Day Class students or the noisy sleepovers they'd organise on their floor, which resulted in a few broken night's sleep for the pair.
By lunch on Friday, Akane was a grumbling, grouchy mess, scowling just as fiercely back at the girls that had deprived her of sleep all week. At the end of the day, she'd walked right into her dorm room and flung herself into her studies while Miu and Kimiko went to the changeover.
"Do you think Akane's going to be ok?" Miu asked Kimiko as they waited for the Night Class to leave their dorm.
"She'll be fine Miu. She's just annoyed by the attention. It'll die down," Kimiko reassured, craning her neck over the throng of students to see the gates to The Moon Dorms.
Miu sighed. She felt guilty. She was the cause of Akane's sour mood and her tough week with the Day Class. She had been the one to start questioning Akane about Aido and hadn't let it drop before the rest of the students got on the bandwagon. She frowned, knowing Akane was studying in their dorm room alone. She needed to apologise to her friend for making her school life so intolerable over the last few weeks. So, for the first time, Miu left the group of screaming students at the changeover and headed back to her dorm before the gates even opened.
When she got back to her room, she was met with a very unwelcome sight. Akane was sat on her bed, surrounded by schoolbooks with random sheets of scrunched up paper dotting the floor. The music player Miu had brought to school some months ago was blaring on the dresser top. Akane's face was set in a concentrated frown of irritation, glaring at the words in the book she was holding as if it had offended her.
Miu had become accustomed to this behaviour quite quickly after their first meeting. This was Akane's go-to strategy when she was overwhelmed and wanted to disassociate herself from everything around her. She'd bury herself in schoolwork, reply with short, clipped answers or just glair, listened to the loudest music she could find in Miu's collection, just to distract and distance herself from the problem.
When she'd first come to the academy this had been an almost daily thing. Miu hadn't dealt with this Akane for a while. She moved to turn down the music player to a more reasonable level.
"Akane?" she called, but only caused her friend's frown to deepen, flashing her angry, jade eyes at her in irritated acknowledgement. "I have a dress you can borrow for the dance if you'd like," she tried. "It's blue and would look really pretty on you… I have a nice green one too that would match your eyes. They're both full length and the green one has pretty ruffles?" No response.
Miu left the room not long after. Akane was obviously unwilling to talk to her after the terrible week she'd had, thanks to Miu's dogged attempts to get her to reveal her relationship with Aido. Miu realised, too late, that her amusement from probing Akane about the Night Class student had annoyed her more than she'd initially thought. She felt guilty for all the times she'd pestered Akane about him when she clearly hadn't wanted to know or discuss any of the Night Class students.
Not feeling up to socialising herself, Miu took to wandering around the school gardens. She let her feet carry her along the path without any thought to her destination until she was caught off guard by a hoarse voice that growled at her out of nowhere, causing her to jump in surprise.
"Day Class, are not allowed here." Miu turned to an elderly and scary-looking man sat on an old wooden chair, draped in a cloak, under the imposing shadow of a wall. Miu looked from the guard and turned her gaze forward and up to the wall of The Moon Dorms. The Night Class were already in school, but she still stared at the building, transfixed for a moment before turning back to the old guard, apologising for her intrusion.
"Hayashi? What are you doing here?" a voice called, just as Miu made to leave. She turned to see The Disciplinary Committee on their last round of the changeover after checking for any Day Class stragglers. Miu stared like a deer caught in the headlights at the glare from Zero Kiryu. She ducked her head and apologised for being out late.
"Please don't trouble yourselves," Miu assured after Yuki offered to walk her back to her dorm. "I was just in a world of my own for a while. I'll be ok to head back by myself."
"Is something wrong?" Yuki asked, spying the unhappy expression on the girl's face.
"I'm ok… but… I owe Akane an apology."
"Why? Is Nakamura mad at you?" Miu nodded. Yuki frowned in sympathy before putting on a supportive smile for her schoolmate. "I'm sure Nakamura will forgive you, Hayashi. She doesn't tend to stay mad for long, right?" she encouraged. Miu smiled in gratitude for the reassurance but didn't feel quite so confident. She left the two committee members and headed back to The Sun Dorms thankful that she hadn't received detention for being so close to The Moon Dorms past curfew.