Thursday mornings meant French with Monsieur Sauvageot. He had coffee brown eyes, long, light brown hair kept tied at the base of his neck, and whatever the weather, he wore a scarf. Most times the scarves were cashmere, a fact the students would all be privy to at the start of each day. He had thin legs and a paunch from all the 'good food and good wine' he ate and drank (another fact about their teacher they didn't need, nor care to hear). His face was pasty with greasy skin, but with the way he'd strut into the classroom, you would think he was a supermodel.
Miu, luckily, walked in just before Monsieur Sauvageot, but sighed, dejectedly once she sat down next to Akane. She had gone to Kaien to ask if several students could go into the village on Saturday. She had already had to coax her parents into letting her stay at school most of the day, so she could celebrate her birthday with her friends, but Kaien had denied her.
"What's wrong?" Akane whispered at the depressed look on her friend's, normally, happy face.
"She went to Headmaster Cross before confirming the number in her group for the visit into town. Isn't that right Miu?" Kimiko drolled knowingly, from her seat in front of her friends. Miu groaned louder, plonking her head down on the desk. "I did tell her she'd need to know who'd be going this morning, but she went anyway, and got her request rejected."
"Oh, ok Miss Know-it-all!" Miu complained loudly, gaining the attention of the entire class.
Now, Monsieur Sauvageot may have been flamboyant, sometimes inappropriate, and loud, but he was not a patient man, and interruptions, no matter how slight was never tolerated.
"Detention, Miss Hayashi, see me after school," his nasally, heavily accented voice called from the front of the class. With their teacher demanding their full attention, the friends could not further discuss Miu's predicament until their next class with Mr Fukui (History).
"I appreciate most of the people you've invited are in our class, but must you check who has confirmed in the middle of class? This can wait for lunch Miu, surly?" Kimiko chastised Miu as she brazenly walked around the room talking to everyone she had invited to the outing. Thankfully, Mr Fukui was just as disinterested in his students as ever, but once Miu had spent a good five-minutes chatting at one of the tables, even he told her to sit and socialise in her own time.
At lunch, Miu, Kimiko, Akane and some of Miu's other friends dashed about getting confirmations for their attendance and finally, at the end of lunch, Miu had the number, names and even the dorm room, class, and grade (courtesy of Kimiko) of everyone attending. She rushed through the corridors to hand everything over to Kaien for his approval before their Dramatics class started after lunch.
Thirteen people had confirmed in the end, the majority being members of their class, but there were one or two from other years and classes, like Yuki Cross and Naomi Jin (Kimiko's roommate), that were also coming to wish Miu a happy birthday. Since Aido no longer asked for her, the girls were not as against Akane as they had been when their Idol showed her so much interest. Many of the boys that had given Akane a wide berth since the Day Class girls ostracised her, also felt more secure in conversing with her. A few of them were also among the birthday celebratory group.
Two boys Kenshin Matsumura and Nori Maki had reintroduced themselves to Akane quickly after the animosity had cooled off. Kenshin was a 6ft, brunet with striking, green eyes, lightly tanned skin and a toned and healthy physic. He was handsome, did well at school and was well-liked by the whole Day Class population. His family owned and ran various successful manufacturing companies that traded all over the world, making him well travelled and cultured.
Nori was 6'3 and came from a wealthy family, whose company dealt in financial services. He was charming and funny and incredibly attractive with jet-black hair, sapphire-blue eyes, and a lean, muscular body and a tanned complexion, thanks to time spent in the Sun for his soccer training. He was always one of the top ten students in the academy and immensely popular with the girls, what with his playful demeanour, and the boys for his entertaining banter.
Akane certainly found both these boys attractive, but in the last week, they had confused her somewhat, especially since they had given her a wide berth for nearly a month. Because, suddenly, these two, handsome young men kept asking if she'd like to eat her lunch with them. They offered to carry her bag and had taken to accompanying her and her friends during their breaks.
The problem Miu saw these boys had, was Akane's attitude towards their attempts to spend time with her. She was either ignoring their efforts to get closer to her or plain blind to it. Miu knew Akane wasn't completely oblivious when it came to the opposite sex, so, she guessed (correctly), Akane was more than likely, keeping these boys at a safe distance. Why, was the question. Miu had her suspicions for that, but they had agreed not to mention the Night Class, so, she was stuck trying to decipher her friend through observation only.
Due to her duty as, The Best Friend, and the concern she'd had for Akane's love life lately, Miu had tried coaching Akane on the proper reaction to the boys' behaviour.
"Saying, 'there's no need to carry my stuff, my arms and hands work fine,' is not the correct response a young lady should give when a handsome classmate offers to carry her bag!" had been one such attempt after they had left for lunch one day in the week.
On Friday, Miu, Akane and Kimiko had found a table together with Naomi (Kimiko's roommate), to eat during lunch, accompanied by two other girls from their class who were quickest to warm up to Akane after Idol-gate. Kohaku Abe and Yasu Kurosawa. Naomi sat next to Kimiko and was a short girl at just 5ft, and very petite, like Miu. She had big brown eyes and clear, fair skin, complimented with ebony hair that she usually kept in a high ponytail, that just brushed her shoulders.
Kohaku had hair the colour of copper, cut in a graduated bob, with deep dark brown eyes, like pools of melted chocolate. Her skin was sun-kissed, with a light dusting of freckles on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose and stood at 5'7. Yasu stood out amongst their class, by far. She was nothing short of stunning, with her bright blue eyes, plump pouting lips, a pale complexion, and long waves of coffee-brown hair flowing down to her mid-back. She stood at 5'6 with an athletic figure, thanks to the Rhythmic Gymnastics she competed in at a professional level.
This had been the moment of Miu's favourite Akane-ism when Nori had beaten Kenshin to the seat between Akane and Kohaku and sent a victorious smirk over his shoulder at his rival. Miu and Kimiko had put down their forks at this point, sensing entertainment in the air.
"I was going to sit there, you know?" Kenshin said with a fake, apologetic smile, gaining the attention of the other girls sat at the table.
"Sorry Ken, I was quicker than you were today. I guess you'll have to sit somewhere else." Nori's reply was agreeable enough, but Miu could see the smug look he sported as he ate his food, not even turning to address his frenemy.
Kenshin's eyebrow twitched noticeably. He didn't like being called Ken, especially by his rival, but he fought to keep his frustration in check. He was supposed to be making a good impression on Akane and staying cool under the pressure of her quizzical gaze was a test he would pass!
"Maki, I was going to ask Miss Nakamura about our assignment today, in Biology. We are partners for the class project, after all." Miu and Kimiko perked up, wondering what Nori would counter with, after such sound reasoning from the challenger.
Last names already? Kenshin must mean business today, after his solid defeat yesterday during the first break, Miu thought, giving a pointed look to Kimiko, conveying her thoughts to the blonde. Kimiko nodded and jutted her chin towards Nori, portraying her views. It seems the defending champion is having trouble coming up with a sufficient rebuttal. Naomi was sat between both girls, following their looks, and apparently, agreeing with their observations, as she nodded sagely at the slightly widened, searching eyes of Nori, racking his brains for an argument.
He sat quietly for a short time before a thought formed, and he turned to Kenshin with a satisfied smile.
"That's true, but I'm Miss Nakamura's partner for our English paper and that's due before your Biology assignment." Expertly countered, the three girls thought as Nori turned back to his food, before looking to Akane apologetically. "I hope you won't mind helping me, Miss Nakamura? I don't have an aptitude for languages, and Mrs Satou is such a strict teacher. I'll need all your expertise to guide me through it." He smiled charmingly, causing a blush to Yasu's cheeks but a raised brow from Akane.
Insert Akane-ism,
"If you're lacking Maki, I have a Translation dictionary here you can borrow to get up to Mrs Satou's standard before Monday? I can't afford for my grades to slip because of other people's shortcomings. I'm on a short enough leash as it is. And Matsumura, Miss Maeda said the Biology assignment would be explained more thoroughly during class on Tuesday after she ran out of time today. So, I'm not sure what you think I got from her that no-one else did?" Both boys stared like deer caught in the headlights at the green-eyed girl's apathetic expression as she watched them. "And I'm done eating, so if you want a seat Matsumura, you can have mine."
Miu sighed, shaking her head with a light chuckle at the blush on Kenshin's face when Akane walked by with her tray, motioning to the vacant seat again before she left.
"Nakamura won today," Naomi declared as the girls watched both boys play unhappily with their food, thoroughly despondent at Akane's lack of interest.
"Chin up boys, you'll get to spend all day Saturday with Akane. She's not as occupied with schoolwork on the weekends. You'll have much better luck getting her attention then, Ok?" Miu offered with her usual bubbly smile and vigour. Both males sighed, not convinced.