A week has past since the group's first study session and exams have finally passed. Right now, all the students were receiving their Physics scores from Nana sensei, who was not just their homeroom teacher, but their Physics teacher as well. First to receive their test papers was Futoshi. "Futoshi kun, great job!" Nana compliments, giving him his paper. "Woah! 85/100? Not bad!" he smiles to himself then turns to Kokoro. "Ne Kokoro chan, how did you do?"
Scratching her head, she tells the bigger guy her score in a soft tone, "I got an 82." shifting her gaze towards Hiro, she smiles happily, "If it weren't for Hiro kun, I would've had a lower score!"
"Ehhh?! That's not true Kokoro chan! You're very smart and hard working! I-if you want, I could help you with Physics next time…!" Kokoro giggles, "Sure!"
Nana soon passes by Hiro and gives him his paper with a smile, "Hiro, I see you're starting to improve again. Keep it up!" she encourages as he looks down to see he got a score of 96/100. He only shrugs before putting the paper in his bag. Back then, he stopped bothering with getting perfect scores and such; resulting with his grades dropping, though he tried maintaining it to at least the average just so his parents wouldn't nag at him.
Looks like he took his studies a bit more seriously this time; was it because of a certain pinkette's presence? Hiro could only blush.
Turning to Zero Two, who sat beside him, Hiro whispers, "Hey Zero Two, did you get your paper yet?" she shakes her head, staring at him with wide, teal, eyes. "Not yet?"
Meanwhile, Miku could see just how anxious Zorome was. To play with his nerves, she twirls her index finger around his ahoge, which makes him jump, and whispers in his ear, "Have you heard? Hiro got a 96!" he turns towards her, a big smirk on his face. "A 96? Heh! I bet you I got a 97!"
"A 97? Feh! You wish!" Miku scoffs, shooting him a smirk of her own. "I bet you couldn't even score higher than me!"
"Wanna bet, bitch?"
"You're on dumbass!" she retorts, their ahoges once again engaging in a battle of dominance before they hear Nana sensei clear her throat in front of them. Instantly, they tear away from each, with Zorome love struck while Miku tries to swallow a giggle. "Yeesh you two, don't you get tired fighting 24/7?" Nana says, exasperated over their frequent bickerings that doesn't stop even when Miku's at home.
"Sorry Nana sensei!" They both say in unison.
"Anyways," she turns to her younger sister, "Good job Miku. I know you could do even better next time!" she says encouragingly showing her a score of 80/100. "Thanks nee-sa..I mean Nana sensei!" the smaller redhead says bashfully after being complimented by her sister. "H-how about me, Nana sensei? How did I do?" Zorome says with a hopeful glint in his lilac eyes
"Zorome…"
"H-hai?" sighing, Nana places his paper on his desk with her hand covering the score. Slowly, she reveals it to him, "I believe you could do better next time, so please study more.." Miku sees him looking shocked so she leans over him and takes a peek at his exam paper; she ends up laughing so hard, her stomach cramped.
"Seriously? A 69?" she said in between giggles. "Shut up! If it wasn't because of your constant nagging, I would've had a higher score!" Zorome says while shoving the paper angrily in his bag. " Hey, on the brightside, I could ask Nana nee san to tutor you!" Miku teases, wiggling her brows.
"Ah, why don't you just shut it Miku." he grumbles, although deep inside, he considers her offer.
Just then, Nana suddenly announces something, "Okay now everyone, someone in our class just got a perfect score in their exam!" she exclaims happily, "Everyone, please give your hands to…
Zero Two!"
"EHHH?!"
"Wow Zero Two, I thought you didn't like studying!" Hiro says, amazed over how she got a perfect score like it was no big deal, in fact, in all the other subjects, she too got nothing less than 100. Both of them were at the rooftop just relaxing in each other's presence with Zero Two's head on Hiro's shoulders. "I mean, I haven't seen you open your book since last Wednesday!"
Zero Two shrugs, "I read, like, 10 minutes before the exams." she says like it was something natural for her. "Really? Then that must mean you have some photographic memory…" he smiles while Zero Two flushes at the compliment. "I don't think that's the case dar-
"OI! ZERO TWO!" both of them jump in surprise over the boisterous shouting caused by no other than, Zorome, with Miku trailing behind. Stopping in front of Zero Two, the shorter boy raises a finger and dramatically points towards her, "JUST BECAUSE YOU GOT A PERFECT SCORE ON ALL YOUR EXAMS DOESN'T MEAN YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME GODDAMNIT!" Said girl shoots him a disinterested look, "If you're gonna challenge me, then I advice you to stop where you are and go back down." mildly irritated over the obstruction over her sweet time with darling, she adds dryly, "-or else I'll have Miku expose your lies about playing Pokemon when all you have on your phone is some random Harvest Moon game."
Zorome gasps, and turns to Miku who was also smirking evilly, "You know I have more subscribers than you right?" scowling, he turns back to Zero Two, "Fine, you win for now..BUT MARK MY WORDS, I, THE MIGHTY ZOROME, WILL NEVER BACK DOWN FROM A FIGHT!" He then proceeds to march away from the three teens, who found the whole blackmailing scene, amusing, when suddenly, Miku remembers something she was about to tell the pinkette.
"Oh! Zero Two! I forgot to tell you that the girls and I were planning to go for some karaoke later, since you know, exams are over." Zero Two looks over Hiro, 'Should I?' her eyes screamed, and of course, he allows her to; anyway, who was he to stop her from having fun?
"Yeah, go ahead." suddenly, he feels her hug him tightly, and unlike before, he returns the hug without any thought "Thank you darling!" they both stay snuggling in each other's arms, not bothering to notice how creeped out Miku was getting. "Um, guys? I'm still here you know?"
Pulling apart, they both apologize to the redhead, who in all honesty, finds the scene before her super cute.
"Are we there yet?" Zero Two asks Miku, who was busy dragging her along the way. "We're almost there!" Miku exclaims, quite breathless from sprinting. The sun had already set, leaving the whole world basking in midnight blue colored with the bright lights coming from the various stores they keep on passing by. There were also a lot of people now roaming the busy streets, both young and old, laughing and chatting along the way. For others, this scene would just belong to any other day, but for Zero Two,
Everything felt so alive.
Without noticing, Miku and her already came to stop in front of a huge building that had a sign that said 'KTV Argentea' surrounded by neon lights. Turning to her, Miku grins in excitement, "Come on Zero Two! Tonight's gonna be fun!" once again, she feels her wrist being pulled, this time, inside the building. Once they got inside, went up a couple of stairs and took a left turn at some corridor, they finally halted in front of a door that was labelled 'room 390'
"Is this it?" Zero Two asks to which Miku answers with an enthusiastic nod. "Yeah, now let's go! The others are waiting inside."
As Miku slowly opens the door, Zero Two is left speechless.
The room was painted in a rich wine color, illuminated by some wall lights. There were leather furnishings and a single coffee table that had some nachos and coke on top. The other girls were already there, Kokoro was already singing some love song, while Ichigo was busy looking at the songbook with Ikuno joining her search as well.
"Guys! We're finally here!" Miku calls out, grabbing all of their attentions.
"Miku! Zero Two! Come and take a seat." Ichigo motions to some space in the leather sofa. Taking a seat between Kokoro and Miku, Zero Two finds herself lost on what to do, considering this was her first time doing some karaoke with a group.
What makes it worse is that there was no darling to be found.
So, for now, Zero Two decides to silently listen to Kokoro's song while observing the cute looking creatures dancing in the television. Once the song is finished, she muses to herself how beautiful the blonde's voice was. It was light and airy, kind of like you were being lulled into sleep.
Next to grab the mic was Ichigo, who chose a rather slow song with an acoustic guitar as accompaniment. Zero Two finds the petite girl's voice airy like Kokoro's, but had a more cool tone to it, perfect for some slow rock, which she was currently singing now. Zero Two also notices how Ikuno seemed to be so into the other girl's song, both smiling and sporting a light blush as she cheers for her friend.
"Gee, Ikuno, you seem so worked up." Miku teases, successfully making the other girl blush harder in slight embarrassment.
"That's…"
Next up was Miku, who not surprisingly sings some lively bubblegum pop. Her voice was cute and lively, and she also danced some choreography that matches with the song's beat. Everyone, including Zero Two, began cheering enthusiastically for the red head; Kokoro held a camera, per Miku's request, to capture the moments for her channel. Finally, she ends the song by flashing a peace sign and wearing a cute expression; her eyes all sparkly and her tongue slightly peeking from her lips. Everyone claps at her energetic performance.
"Did you manage to capture everything?" Miku asks, slightly out of breath.
Kokoro flashes her a thumbs up sign, passing to the girl her camera, "Till the very last second!"
Soon after, Ikuno starts singing as well, but to Zero Two's utter shock, she begins belting out to some heavy rock song. Her voice came out powerful and clear, which perfectly fits with every note she hits. "Surprised, huh?" Ichigo calls out to Zero Two, noticing how the girl's teal eyes almost grew the size of saucers the moment Ikuno opened her mouth to sing. "Don't worry! The first time we heard Ikuno sang, we had the same reaction as well!"
"By the way, aren't you gonna sing, Zero Two chan?" Kokoro asks, holding the songbook out to Zero Two. "Yeah, I bet you'd sound awesome!" Miku beams.
"I…" she was enjoying, yes, but she wasn't entirely comfortable with singing in front of others, she'd rather listen to all of them sing their hearts out, while she cheers on . In fact, she wasn't really the music junkie, only having a few songs saved in her phone on replay, but, seeing how the other girls stared at her with hopeful eyes, she was slowly being convinced that one song wouldn't really hurt her now, would it?
"Fine, but just one song okay?" grabbing the songbook from Kokoro's hands, she flips the pages with her mindset being, the first song she would recognize would be the one she sings just to get things over with. Finally, as her eyes scan through the list of songs, one catches her eye. She turns towards Miku and points at it. "I like this one."
"Hitori?" Miku asks, getting a nod from the pinkette. "Okay then, let me enter it for you!" grabbing the mic, she presses the buttons found on its' body and presses play before handing it to Zero Two. "Don't choke, okay?" she lightly teases.
Once the instrumental starts playing, Zero Two feels her stomach being queasy from the slight nervousness that was starting to build up. She looks back at the others who were just as anxious to hear her sing. They all give her a thumbs up, cheering her as encouragement, and this gives her some confidence. Taking a deep breath, she starts singing once the lyrics appear on the screen.
A pair of birds flying side by side,
An elongated shadow of a parent holding the hand of his child
And the wonderful things that the sunset has illuminated ...
This normality was so dazzling
On a blue bench I felt a bit cold,
I felt excluded.
"Normal is good, I want to be like that.
How can I do it?"
I thought all alone.
I don't think you have told anyone you feel lonely,
Because, you see, you do not have people by your side to say it to,
But I think it's wonderful that I met you.
Even if we are separated, as long as we trust each other,
We will manage to continue.
Normality is beautiful and I want to be like that too.
To become one, I will also try today and I do not care if I hurt myself.
I do not think you have told anyone you feel lonely,
Because, you see, you do not have people by your side to say it to.
If I could see you again, I would stay by your side forever.
She feels a whole lot lighter when she finishes the last note, also feeling a little tingly as well. When she goes back to her seat, the girls all gush over her, making Zero Two feel slightly conscious over the attention she was getting, not to mention how close they were to her.
"Zero Two, you sound so great!" Miku cries, tackling the girl in a tight squeeze. "Miku's right. You sounded like a professional." Kokoro smiles brightly, amazed by the girl's talent.
"Have you had vocal training?" Ikuno asks, to which Zero Two replies with a 'no.' Impressed, Ikuno compliments her, "you're quite a talent, huh."
"Not really..you guys are all great as well.." the pinkette says.
"Well, if you put it that way...why don't we form a group? It would be a fun experience!" Miku suggests, turning to Ichigo who had a thoughtful expression on her face. "Wouldn't it, Ichigo?"
"Well...since the school festival is fast approaching, that would actually be a great idea…" Ichigo tells the group with a smile. "Is it okay with you, Zero Two? You don't have to force yourself if you don't want to..?" Zero Two shrugs, finding singing to be actually fun.
'I mean, performing wouldn't be THAT bad if we perform as a group..'
"I'm cool with it."
"Yay! Now that's settled, why don't we sing one last song together? Y'know, as a warm up." Miku grins smugly, twirling the mic with her hands and soon, they begin singing their hearts out to 'Torikago.' before going home laughing and smiling hand in hand.
Once she arrives home, Zero Two couldn't help but think to herself that this day, even if she wasn't with her darling, would be one of the most memorable moments in her life she'd surely cherish inside her heart.
And one day, she would make sure to share this memory with her darling.
Author's note: Hello everyone! Once again, I'd like all of you to know how deeply grateful I am for reading and supporting this story! you guys give me the motivation to continue with this fic and I hope ya'll would still continue to support me till the very end.
However, school's starting in two days, so of course, I have to focus on my personal priorities for now, so I think I couldn't update as frequently as before. nevertheless, I promise ya'll I'll do my very best to update at at least 2-3 chapters or more, once a week.
Anyways, hope you continue enjoying 'Hello Darling!"