It was another school year. Rin, Haruka and Nagisa were all heading towards the school. On the way there they took the detour past Sousuke's building and met up with him there.
"Sou-chan!" Nagisa waved as Sousuke exited the building. A mother and a little girl, who couldn't be in more than 4th grade at max, came out behind him.
"Hey Sousuke," Rin smiled at his friend as they reached him.
"Yamasaki-kun," the mother said while looking up at Sousuke. "Are you and your friends going to the high school?" she asked.
"Yeah…" Sousuke looked at her wondering what she wanted. So did Rin and Nagisa. Haruka just stared into space, being distant as always when he thought the situation didn't matter to him.
"I hate to ask this, but I'm really busy with work and have to send Nanami to school, but I'm worried about letting her go alone at such a young age, could you see that she gets there safely?" she asked.
"Leave it to us, ma'am!" Nagisa said with a bright smile.
"Thank you," the mother said. "Nanami, you stay with Yamasaki-kun and his friends and do what they tell you until you make it to school, okay?"
The daughter nodded in response.
"Good, then I'll see you this afternoon," the mother pressed her lips against her daughter's forehead for a brief second before leaving quickly.
The four boys ended up walking with the girl to school. Nagisa kept on talking to her and she kept on listening to his conversation. Though her attention was elsewhere. Apparently Haruka was way more interesting than the blonde teen.
"Her name is Miyano Nanami," Sousuke said. "Her mother's name is Miyano Hiroko. She's a police officer,"
"What about her father?" Rin asked.
"They're divorced. I don't know him," Sousuke answered simply. "She and her mother moved into your old place a year and a half ago,"
"So, Nana-chan," Nagisa spoke to the girl. "What grade are you in?" he asked.
"Third," Nanami answered quietly.
"You don't talk so much, are you shy?" Nagisa asked.
Nanami didn't answer that question. Something in her expression told them that she didn't want to answer it.
Nagisa let out a sigh. "You're just like Haru-chan, he doesn't talk much either and speaks through his facial expressions,"
This caused Nanami to send Haruka an admiring look.
Shortly after they reached the school. They stopped by the entrance to the high school building. The elementary school building was on the other side of the street, so one of them had to cross it to make sure Nanami got there safely.
"I'll go," Haruka said as all of them turned to look over at the building. "I'll make it in time for class," he assured before grabbing the little girl's hand and heading across the street.
"You sure, Haru-chan?" Nagisa said.
Rin laughed. "If Haru says he'll make it, then he'll make it, no doubt," and so Haruka walked Nanami across the street.
"Thank you, Haru-chan-sama," Nanami said as they reached the entrance of the school building.
Haruka nodded. "My name is Nanase Haruka," he said, indirectly correcting the young girl.
"Thank you, Nanase-sama," she said instead and walked into the school building. Haruka headed back to the high school building and went to class, making it just in time before class started.
Again this year, Rin and Haruka were in the same class. Aki, Ai and Sousuke were all in different classes from them. This year they had a new homeroom teacher.
The first thing their new teacher did was calling out the names of her students to ensure everyone was there and to learn their names and faces.
"Tsuchida Nari-san?" she called.
"Yes," the girl answered.
"Toyama Satoshi-kun?" the teacher called
"Yes," the said boy answered.
"Nanase Haruka-san?" she called, causing the entire class to fall silent. Everybody exchanged looks. Out of policy, some tried to hold back their giggles. Rin was among those. Haruka decided it wasn't worth answering. This was what he had done in elementary school and middle school too when someone had mistaken his name for a girl's.
"Excuse me," Rin said after getting his giggles under control. "Haru's a boy,"
Due to the confused expression on their teacher's face, everyone in the class except Haruka started laughing, or at least giggling, unable to fight it any longer.
From this situation, Haruka could just determine that things were just like they had always been. This mistake was common to him by now.
The teacher continued for a bit and then hesitated at another name.
"…Fujioka Kyou-kun?" she asked.
Again the class started laughing, seeing as Fujioka Kyou was actually a female student. The mistake was corrected and they could continue until…
"Matsuoka Rin-san?"
Nobody could hold their laughter in after that. Even Haruka had to smile, but when he caught Rin's eye he noticed just how irritated the other was. He put on a poker-face and hoped that the others would stop laughing soon. It would be for their own good.
"Yes, I'm a boy too by the way," Rin answered as calmly as possible (which wasn't very calm).
The teacher sighed, silently praying that there would be no more students with confusing first names.
"Did she seriously confuse you too?" Sousuke was trying to contain his laughter, though it was a battle he had already lost. "They didn't even do it with Nanase once we started high school, did they?"
It was at lunch break and Haruka and Rin had met up with Sousuke, Aiichirou and Aki to have lunch together on the roof of the school building. It was still a tradition they kept despite being in different classes.
Rin frowned. "You're getting a kick out of this," he mumbled.
Aki smiled. "You did tell us that Nanase-kun usually got mistaken for being a girl because of his first name, but you never mentioned it could happen to you as well," she informed.
"That's because it never did happen to me," Rin said, his voice rising a bit in irritation.
"Then why did it happen?" Aiichirou asked in curiosity.
"It was Fujioka-san's fault," Rin mumbled.
"Fujioka Kyou-san?" Aki asked. "The ace of the girls volleyball team? That Fujioka-san?"
Rin nodded. "Yeah, her,"
"How can it be her fault, she's so sweet, we were in the same class in elementary school and she really backed me up when I tried out the volleyball club in the beginning of middle school," Aki said.
"You tried that, Yazaki-san?" Aiichirou asked.
"Yeah," Aki smiled. "It was fun to begin with, but I wasn't very good at it and would rather spend my time swimming," she explained. She then turned back to Rin. "But how can it be her fault?" she asked.
"Her name works for boys as well," Rin said. "Our new teacher got confused by Haru's name and then even more confused by her name and therefore messed up mine," he said.
"I guess it's bad luck for your family today," Aiichirou said. "Momo-kun just texted me that their new teacher mistook Hazuki-kun for female as well,"
Rin grinned. "Suddenly I'm not so mad about this whole incident anymore," he said. This caused everyone to show an amused reaction. Aiichirou and Aki both chuckled, Sousuke smiled and Haruka just let it show through his eyes.