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Everyone all left, each having something important to do. Meanwhile, at the Shining Academy, a man sat at his desk holding a photo frame of a woman with red hair smiling.
"Kotomi..."
The next day, Shining Saotome approached the two idol groups and Haruka early morning.
"Have you all figured out your plans for the festival?" he questioned.
They all nodded. Masato and Camus stood up, acting like representatives for each of their group. They were about to tell the dark brown haired man their idea when his large, tan hand stopped in front of their faces.
"STOP!" He called out.
Shining Saotome moved his finger around as if he was scolding a group of children, "No, no, no. You must not tell me what the idea is. You all must focus on having your event submitted and approved by the KazuFest staff."
Taking out two manila envelopes from behind him, he gave one each to Masato and Camus.
"Fill them all out and hand them back to me," the academy principal instructed, "We must hurry with turning in all of the paperwork."
"When exactly is this Kazumi Festival anyway?" Syo asked.
"In one months!" Shining Saotome told them.
"NANI?!"
"Why you ba-"
"Now, now, Mr. Kurosaki. It will not do well to start cursing," Shining Saotome told him.
Ranmaru growled, "Why the hell are we doing all this now when we have a month to do it?!"
"You can't really be surprised by this, are you Ran-Ran?" Reiji said, "It's like when you do a movie, after you finish filming it, it takes a few months before its released in theatres. But then again, you aren't really a patient man anyway."
Nearly everyone had their eyes dilated in shock and surprise by Reiji's new attitude. Ranmaru pushed him against the wall, his hand was fisted, gripping onto the brown haired man's shirt.
"Oi! What's with that attitude, you bastard?!" the white haired man yelled at him.
"Mr. Kurosaki, I would appreciate it if you put down Mr. Kotobuki," Shining Saotome said, one of his hands placed on the younger man's shoulder.
Ranmaru saw the academy principal's solemn expression, tched, and placed Reiji down.
"Mr. Kotobuki, please wait outside for a moment," Shining Saotome instructed.
Reiji did not look at any of them, just following the older man's instruction and walked out the front door.
"Do not take Mr. Kotobuki's current attitude to mind. He does not approve of this idea. Many of the staff members in the KazuFest do not approve of it. BUT! I know that this is the right way to go! This will be worth it!" Shining Saotome told them.
"Is there anything specific that is making Kotobuki-senpai act this way?" Otoya asked.
"You will see once that day arrives. Moving On! Complete those papers and give them back to me! You must prepare for this quickly!" Shining Saotome said, not providing them any clues on Reiji's new behavior.
"Now, I must discuss with Mr. Kotobuki for a moment. Work on the papers!" the academy principal told them.
He opened the front door, and everyone else was able to see Reiji on the phone talking to someone with a smile on his face.
A silence filled the room before Masato sighed, "We better get to work then."
Opening the two envelopes, they found papers of worksheets that included them writing in information about themselves. Then there were the worksheets on their event and a permission form for if they were going to participate in any other events. Haruka was given her own pile of papers that was in the STARISH envelope that included her only needing to fill out her identification sheets and participation permission form.
After a couple moments, the front door opened, revealing only Reiji coming out. It appeared that Shining Saotome had left.
"Hey everyone! What I miss?" he asked, acting as his usual, cheery self.
"How come it is only you that does not have to fill out any worksheets?" Camus asked him.
"I already told you. I'm a member of the Kazumi Festival, I don't need to fill anything out."
"Why you…," Ranmaru growled, "Then at least fill out the worksheets for our event for us then. Do at least something to help!"
Reiji shrugged and grabbed the worksheets before heading upstairs into his room.
"Ne, Ne, what do you think caused him to act like that before?" Otoya asked.
"He's probably protecting someone in the festival. I know I'd be protective if someone was out to take somebody I care about," Syo said.
His blue eyes glanced at Haruka before blushing and looking away. Some of the STARISH members were able to catch his gaze at Haruka and glared at him.
Not even half an hour has gone by and Haruka, STARISH, and three-fourths of QUARTET NIGHT were still working on the worksheets.
"Why is there so many?" Tokiya asked himself, looking down at his own sheet of papers, an aura of agitation surrounding him.
Footsteps were heard from behind him, and Reiji revealed himself with a smile on his face.
"Yo!" He greeted everyone.
He handed the remainder of QUARTET NIGHT the event papers and said, "I need you all to sign your name at the bottom."
Ranmaru stood up, "What the hell?! How did you finish this faster than us?!"
Reiji shrugged carelessly, "Those kind of worksheets take forever to complete. You'll be done soon."
His attempt to cheer everyone failed as everyone practically glared at him, except for Haruka. Seeing her smile at her papers, practically whispering to herself, "I'm done," made Reiji grin.
"Since it seems that Haru-chan is done, I'll take her out for a treat!"
Before anyone else could even try to say anything, Reiji grabbed Haruka and lead her out the door. Seconds later they could hear the sound of loud arguments happening within the Master Dorm. Most of the yelling included saying, "REIJI!"
Reiji lead Haruka towards the park, stopping near a bench.
"Ano, senpai, is everything ok?" she asked him as she tried to catch her breath.
Not even panting, Reiji smiled and said, "Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"
Thinking back on what Syo said, Haruka asked, "A-Ano, is there someone you want to protect at the Kazumi Festival?"
Reiji's brown eyes shown a spark of surprise before smiling softly, "Haruka, there's someone I'd like you to meet. I'm pretty sure you'd get along with her and understand a bit of why I disapprove with Shining's idea."
He walked towards a secluded area of the park where not many people were walking through. Haruka was able to see a red and white plaid picnic blanket on the ground which was where Reiji was heading towards. As Haruka walked closer, she was able to see two other girls sitting on the picnic blanket, one sitting rather close to Reiji. The reddish-orange haired girl held back a gasp as she realized that one of the girls was the dark blue haired girl that they had seen on TV the day before while the other was the pink-haired girl that she had seen performing for the orphanage fundraiser.
"Oi! Haru-chan, kochi, kochi!" Reiji called out to her, waving her to come closer.
The two girls looked at her, looking a bit confused before smiling. When Haruka was finally able to sit down, Reiji was quick to introduce her to them.
"Haru-chan, this is Honoka. Ichinose Honoka," Reiji said, gesturing towards the dark blue haired girl sitting closely to him.
"Hello," the girl stated.
Her face showed no expression, but her green eyes held warmth.
Haruka smiled, "Nice to meet you, Ichi...nose-san?"
As she was greeting Honoka, the reddish-orange haired girl finally realized the girl's last name.
"Mushkashite, are you related to Ichinose Tokiya-san?" She blurted out .
Honoka frowned as well as Reiji making Haruka regret asking. There was a moment of silence, the pink haired girl began to take out food from a picnic basket, and Haruka was about to sat to forget about her question when Honoka interrupted her.
"Tokiya is my younger cousin," she said, looking away from Haruka, "But we aren't that close."
"Eh? Nande?" The STARISH composer asked, "I'm sure that Ichinose-san would want to get close with his family."
"It isn't like Tokiya has the chance to," Honoka said.
"Doiyu koto?"
Honoka didn't answer, instead she replied with, "I introduced myself, can you do yourself now? "
"Ah! Gomenasai!" Haruka apologized, feeling guilty that the green eyed girl had to answer a personal question from someone she didn't know.
"Watashi Nanami Haruka desu. Yoroshiku."
"How do you know my cousin?" She asked.
"Ah! Ichinose-san is part of the idol group STARISH, and I'm the composer. We both went to Saotome Gakuen," Haruka explained.
"Hmm," Honoka looked like she wanted to say more but decided not to.
Haruka's attention switched towards the pink haired girl that was staring at her; she shifted under the gaze.
The pink haired girl smiled, "My name's Yumeiki Ayaka. Yoroshiku!"
"Watashi wa Nanami Haruka desu. I saw you perform for an orphanage fundraiser yesterday. Your performance was amazing!" Haruka complimented her.
Ayaka blushed, "Arigatou! I loved your music as well!"
Haruka looked at her in shock and confusion, "My music? I never sang live before."
Ayaka shook her head, "I meant the music you created for STARISH, they're magnificent and full of passion! I want to write music like that!"
Her purple eyes held determination, and Haruka couldn't help but see it remind herself of herself when she first came to Saotome Gakuen.
"D-Do you write any music?" she asked the younger girl even though she knew the answer.
Ayaka nodded. Honoka and Reiji sat next to each other silently, eating some of the packed food (potato salad, croissant club sandwiches, chicken salad pitas, etc) while watching them talk.
"Nanami!"
Looking behind her, Haruka saw the members of STARISH rushing towards her as well as the three remaining members of QUARTET NIGHT.
"Minna!" she called out.
"We've been looking for you everywhere!" Otoya told her.
"Oi Reiji! What's the deal with you?" Ranmaru barked out.
The silver haired man looked like he was about the hit the brown haired man. Haruka stood up between the newly arrived group and the ones sitting on the picnic blanket.
"Everything's fine," she told them, wanting to calm them down, "Kotobuki-senpai was introducing me to some people."
"What's so special about them?" Syo asked, looking at the two girls.
Honoka and Ayaka were ignoring the glances and glares, both taking a sip from their cup of pink lemonade sherbet punch. Reiji just took a bit of sandwich.
"You're all planning on attending the Kazumi Festival, right?" Honoka asked them.
"Eh? How do you know about it?" Natsuki asked them.
Ayaka smiled, "We're members of the Festival, of course!"
"Hey, you're the girl that won that Rock Song whatever event that Shining showed us a video about!" Ranmaru blurted out.
"Shining's showing videos?" Honoka asked Reiji who nodded, "He'll need to be discussed with by the Festival Staff."
Tokiya and Honoka shared a glance before each of them looked away.
"Sugoi! You look a lot like Tokiya here!" Otoya told her, pointing to the dark blue haired boy next to him.
"I know," Honoka replied coldly.
The atmosphere tensed with her words. Ayaka smiled nervously and looked at the new arrivals, "W-Why don't you sit down and join us?"
A rose appeared in front of her, startling her a bit, "Thank you for your generosity, little lamb."
Some of the people looked a bit annoyed at Ren's actions, some were amused. They all sat down on the picnic table, but the atmosphere was still a bit awkward for anyone to immediately start talking.
"My name's Yumeiki Ayaka," the pink-haired girl said, then she pointed to the dark blue haired girl, "And this is Honoka."
"If there is anything that you would like to know-" Ayaka started to say.
"Are Honoka and Tokiya related?!" Syo bursted out say.
"-a-about the KazuFest?"
Syo quickly gained a red face as he looked down in embarrassment.
"We're cousins," Honoka and Tokiya replied at the same time.
"EH?!"
"Tokiya-kun, how come you don't know about Kazumi Festival?" Natsuki asked.
"Yeah, your cousin is in it, why not you?" Cecil wondered.
"Just because we're cousins does not mean we're close," Honoka answered.
Tokiya just looked away from everyone. A tinge of sadness and shame surrounded his aura, Ayaka noted.
Such a purple and starry aura, Ayaka thought in awe.
"What happened?" Otoya asked.
Immediately, Honoka stood up, "I have to bring Ayaka home."
"Eh? Why now?" Reiji asked.
He quickly glomped Ayaka who was surprised by the attack but soon relaxed.
"Nagi's probably worried about her," Honoka stated, "He wanted her to be home ten minutes ago."
"What?" Ayaka looked shocked.
"Then why did you allow her to be here?" Reiji asked.
"That kid annoys me sometimes, Ayaka needs to be able to have some air and not compose a lot of songs for them," Honoka answered.
STARISH, 3/4 of QUARTET NIGHT, and Haruka froze at the name 'Nagi', immediately associating it with Mikado Nagi from HEAVENS.
"Excuse me," Masato started.
Reiji, Honoka, and Ayaka looked at him. Although, Reiji had a suspicious look that said that he knew what Masato was going to say.
"Could it be that you're talk about-"
He was cut off by a male voice that sounded completely young and childish.
"AYA-CHAN!"
They all turned towards the direction the voice was coming from and, within their field of vision, saw a boy with light salmon-pink hair and grey eyes. The members of STARISH froze at the person in front of them. Nagi ran over to hug Ayaka who had stood up once she saw the boy.
"Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!" he told her with a worried look.
"G-Gomen ne, Nagi. I didn't know that you needed me," Ayaka said, she had a small blush on her face, as if she was happy that he was worried about him.
"Of course I do! Eiichi wanted me to find you to discuss about a new song for HEAVENS," he said with a smile.
Quickly, Ayaka's happy expression faded once finding out that Nagi was here for the sake of HEAVENS.
"Mikado Nagi! What are you doing here?" Syo exclaimed.
"Ah, look at that. It's STARISH. I didn't see you there for a moment," Nagi told them, a smirk on his face.
Before anyone else could comment on him, he placed a hand on Ayaka's waist, making her blush immediately, and pulled her closer.
"Have you met HEAVEN's new composer, Ayaka?" He said to them, "I'm sure that Shining Saotome had received Raging Otori's DVD of our last concert, right?"
They all froze except for Honoka and Reiji and quickly looked at Ayaka. This was the girl who wrote a song that had a happiness pulse as big their Maji Love 2000? The same song that had affected all of them to the core?
Ayaka gave them a shy smile.
Immediately their thoughts were all the same: Why was she stuck composing songs for a band like HEAVENS?
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please Read and Review. Thank you.