Another chapter coming your way! :D big thanks to the ones who were kind enough to drop a review! They help me on, even though there's a small number. XD
Guest: Thank you so much! :) the story is based loosely on Uta no Prince-sama which only had the idol and composer classes, but I wanted to add stylists as well because they don't get credited much, really. XD I took your feedback and added translations for all the chapters thus far. :D
0-Jougen-Knight-0: Again, thank you for your kind words. :) but yes! Quan is starting to soften towards Antonio. :D well, it's the BTT - they're pretty funny and get up to all kinds of mischief. 83 that topic will actually be touched upon a later chapter, but I'll say it right now that Quan is an independent student. Hehe, well I feel a person like Maddie wouldn't get interested or impressed with a guy with a big ego - Alfred has one, so I honestly don't think Maddie will be that impressed by it first. XD but stay in tune to see if Gilbert ends with Maddie or not. ;)
Happy reading~!
[Music Recommendation/s:
- Fabulous by Ashley Tisdale (you'll see why XD)]
Once the bell signalled for the first period, Antonio almost leapt out of his skin and fell off his seat.
"Now, move along to your classes quickly!" barked Mrs Kirkland abruptly as she began gathering her papers into a pile along with her clipboard rather hurriedly. "To those who are composers, I might see you very soon."
"Ah, so she's a composer!" Antonio snapped his fingers. "Okay, then! So Magdalena and Tino might be having her as a teacher!"
Quan simply shrugged one shoulder as he gathered his bag and slung the strap around his shoulder. However, he pulled out the timetable and student diary he gained from Ms Katyusha when he first came in and attempted to lose Antonio around the large academy. Peering down, he squinted his eyes a little as he brought it a little closer to his face. From what he could see, he had a double free period today followed by lunch, but that was after morning tea. After lunch was a double practical lesson.
However, for now…
"What have you got, Quan?" inquired Antonio as he peeked over the Vietnamese boy's shoulder to have a better look.
Quan simply gave a glance at the timetable that was in the green-eyed idol's hands, and answered in a brusque tone, "Nothing you have."
"Really? How can you tell that just by looking at my timetable for like a second?"
"The colours of the subjects on Monday on your timetable don't match any of the colours on my timetable for Monday."
Glancing down at his timetable again, Antonio could see that what his stylist said was correct.
Quan had what was labelled as "Theory" in light blue for his first period that took over one slot, and after that was something labelled as "Study Period" that was white, and also filled one slot. "Lunch" was also coloured white and filled two slots. Finally, Quan had "Business" that was a bright yellow and filled one slot, while the final lesson of the day was "Practical" in a pale pink.
"You have a free period before lunch already today?" marvelled Antonio. "That's so lucky!"
The Vietnamese boy simply nodded his head once, "I suppose; if I get a lot of work, then it's a good time to catch up."
Antonio gave a sheepish chuckle as he tilted his head a bit, "That's not what I meant…but okay!" He then heaved a sigh as he raised his timetable up to Quan's face; almost accidentally smacking the piece of paper right in the Asian's nose. "I have so much stuff!" he exclaimed.
Quan wrinkled his nose a bit upon almost having his face whacked by a sheet of paper, but blinked right at it as he read. Antonio also had the lunch slot as the same colour like on Quan's slot for that day, however Antonio had different subjects: there was a red one that read "Music practical" after lunch, while another in green read "Musical theory" that took over one slot before lunch.
First thing in the morning however, was a dark blue slot that read "E.C.A" that intrigued Quan. He began to wonder what was going to happen during that lesson, and what sort of person would teach it. He was especially wondering just what those letters stood for in the acronym.
Antonio himself gave a nervous laugh at noticing where the dark-haired stylist was focusing their eyesight on. "I wonder about that, too!" he then rubbed his chin. "I mean…what do those letters stand for?"
Quan responded as he rubbed his own chin, "Seems interesting, but it definitely is a bit weird. E.C.A…."
"Easy class, alright?" Antonio asked hopefully; green eyes glowing.
"I wouldn't breathe so easily."
This just caused the Spaniard to give a little sigh.
Still, when Quan walked out of homeroom, Antonio followed closely right at his hip, which still somewhat disturbed and slightly irritated the Vietnamese boy. However, unlike before, much to Antonio's delight, the golden-eyed stylist didn't brush him off or try to run away from him like before. Instead, he just walked at a normal pace beside him and would even give some slight acknowledgement by giving a nod or shrug of the shoulder. Despite how half-hearted the shrug of Quan's shoulder was, the brunette idol was just happy that he was able to chip a bit through the Asian's icy surface.
Even though it was just a little bit.
Going to a hallway that led to several ways, Antonio had patted Quan on the shoulder and bid him farewell rather cheerfully – as well as remind him of having lunch with Madeleine in the cafeteria.
"You promise, right?"
Quan was rather taken aback at how serious the Spaniard looked, but gave a nod as he this time looked Antonio in the eye.
Bright emerald that suddenly shone a serious flame bore back at calm, golden glass.
"Yes, you have my word."
This instantly caused the serious blaze that burned in Antonio's eyes to simmer down to the warm and cheerful one it had as per usual. The idol beamed as he waved at him while leaving towards his own lesson, "¡Muy bueno! ¡Hasta luego!"
'I can't understand Spanish at all,' Quan thought to himself as he narrowed his eyes a bit at Antonio's retreating form. 'For all I know, he might be insulting me without my knowledge…'
It really didn't take him that long to get to his destination. The room labelled on the slot on his timetable had read 'Classroom 2-F', and so Quan found that he was near a room that was inside with no balcony or terrace – the huge, white-framed window overlooking a rose garden. The room across had a green door with a golden knob with the number and letter 2-F on it. Before he could turn the knob and enter the room, however, a voice called out to him.
"Hey, Quan! What's up?"
The voice definitely sounded familiar, and so when the dark-haired stylist turned to face the speaker, found a pair of sharp, white fangs grinning back at him. "Hello, Dracul," greeted Quan politely. "You are also here for theory?"
The strawberry blonde nodded, "Yup, yup! So, let's go in!"
'Was about to,' Quan thought to himself in slight amusement. He nodded and complied with what he was doing. He motioned to the red-eyed boy to go inside first, which Dracul did, and the two entered.
The classroom inside was actually really large – leading to that of an auditorium. There was a huge screen right at the front, and chairs surrounded all over in a semi-circle as they were neatly arranged on a slope with strips wide enough for people to walk up and down to get in and out of class. There was appeared to be some sort of metal desk at the front, right under the screen with a projector.
Dracul whistled, "Damn…this place certainly doesn't disappoint when it comes to size!"
Quan himself was marvelling at the large auditorium – definitely impressed. However, upon feeling a nudge from Dracul, he followed him to a spot right at the middle at the second last row close to the top so they could have a good look of below.
"Look like it could fill two hundred students!"
Quan nodded, "That's a pretty good number."
"Hey, look," the red-eyed stylist said as he pointed at a familiar figure who entered the huge classroom. "Isn't that Lovino?"
Quan squinted his eyes to try and get a better look, and saw that the olive skin, the sunglasses and the scowl were pretty much unmistakeable. He nodded, which caused Dracul to wave his arm around enthusiastically as he tried to get the Italian to come over. The Italian however gave a scowl as he looked in their direction. He then sat alone at the front, on the right hand side of seats.
Honestly, the Vietnamese stylist expected that.
"Hey, he snubbed me!" Dracul looked incredulous. "The guy actually snubbed me!"
"Don't worry about it, Dracul," Quan tried to reassure the now seething strawberry blonde beside him. "Just leave it. He's always in a bad mood it seems. Except when he's around women."
"Ohh…" Dracul snorted as he raised his head up, his nostrils flaring. "So, he's that kind of guy now, is he?"
It wasn't long before more people came inside and took seats after marvelling the huge auditorium classroom. Out of all of them, Quan noticed that lady-like girl clad in purple who insulted Gilbert upon their first meeting. She came entering with her head held high in the air as she sauntered to the row that was placed right in front of the golden-eyed Asian, and his red-eyed friend.
"Excuse me, but is this seat taken?"
Quan could just feel Dracul almost leap out of his skin. Admittedly, the Vietnamese boy himself was surprised from that new voice suddenly popping up, however he hid away his shock far better than his sharp-fanged companion. Gazing to his left, he saw that the owner of the voice was a young man with short, dark blonde hair, a narrow-shaped face and a pair of square glasses over a pair of dark green eyes.
'Green eyes? Much darker than Antonio's,' Quan mused to himself. However he paused for a moment and arched an eyebrow, 'Hold on…why am I even comparing them to Antonio's?' after a brief moment of consideration, he shrugged, 'Well…he's model material; an idol is expected to be like that. I suppose that's why.'
The bespectacled blonde boy gave a slightly nervous smile as he pointed at the seat beside Dracul. "Is that seat taken?" he repeated his question.
"Eh? No! Nah, it's not," Dracul shook his head, getting over his initial shock, and a grin instantly spread out on his face again. "Go ahead! Take it!"
The blonde must've noticed Dracul's more prominent fangs, for Quan noticed him jolt a bit and give a little yelp that sounded frightful. Seeing his green eyes dart over in his direction, the Vietnamese boy rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Seat beside me isn't taken, either, but don't worry – Dracul won't bite you."
"Dracul?"
"Dracul Dalca!" the red-eyed boy continued; not noticing that he somewhat frightened the other boy. "Made in Romania!"
'Ahh, so that's it,' Quan thought to himself, feeling better that he now knew of his companion's nationality. 'The accent was bugging me for a while.' Suddenly, he felt a hand pat his shoulder.
"And this is Quan! Quan Nguyen!"
"From Vietnam?" inquired the glasses-clad blonde.
"Because all people from Vietnam have the last name 'Nguyen', right?" questioned Quan as he arched an eyebrow.
This caused Eduard to squawk, "Ack! That's not what I meant! What I meant was, because your surname doesn't sound like it's from Japan, China or Korea! Japan always have a consonant then a vowel unless it's the 'n' sound, and China slightly shorter surnames that would go first, much like the Koreans do, and-"
"Calm down," spoke up Quan hurriedly, now feeling a bit bad at how panicked he made the other boy. "I was only kidding; I don't really care for stereotypes. I'm actually happy that you recognize I'm Vietnamese rather than something else entirely."
"A-ahh," the blonde gave a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his head. Noticeably, his ears began turning red. "Sorry…I thought I offended you for a moment…"
"Enough of it," Quan said as he waved a hand dismissively. "Your name? What is your name?"
Here, this time the green-eyed boy cleared his throat and stood up straight as he properly made his posture. He then adjusted his glasses smartly as he responded, "My name is Eduard. Eduard von Bock."
Quan could just see a bit of a glint that reflected up at the corner of his glasses, too. "Because you are aware of our country of origin, do you mind telling me where you are from, Eduard?" he asked. "You have a bit of an accent that I cannot pinpoint…I'm pretty bad at pinpointing accents," he admitted in a sheepish afterthought.
Eduard however shook his head, "I don't mind telling you at all! I wouldn't blame you; there are so many countries in the world, so it's hard to really pinpoint a person based on their accent."
Quan couldn't help but feel the corners of his lips twitch upward – he was really starting to like Eduard already.
"I'm from Estonia."
"Estonia?" questioned Dracul as he tilted his head a bit, still smiling. "Interesting."
Eduard was about to respond, when suddenly, the door was slammed open.
Not closed, open.
And all of a sudden, there was a great flash of light from up, that shone right to the lone desk out the front near the huge slide projector and the controls. The next thing that happened was that the light was suddenly joined by a pair of pink lights – however, one was hot pink, while the other was a coral one. The middle light soon became pastel pink, much to everyone else's shock as they began murmuring in awe, confusion or a mix of both.
And before Quan knew it, there was the sound of something he did not expect, which made him turn his head.
"What was that?" asked Dracul as he looked around as well.
"Sounds like a horse's whinnying," responded Eduard, quite surprised himself.
"Not a horse!" announced a new voice that made everyone look around to the top.
Right there at the top of the stairs was a sight to behold. There was what appeared to be a young, blonde person who was atop of what appeared to either be a small horse or a slightly large pony. Its coat was a rich chestnut and finely brushed; the mane was also dark in colour with the tail matching. It was wearing an electric pink bridle, and a pastel pink saddle. It gave a snort as it raised its head up to let loose a loud whinny before it looked forward and started to gallop to the other side of the upper part of the top of the stairs.
Next, it just made a slight turn, and it leapt over the stairs. The tail and mane billowing around in seemingly slow motion.
Everyone just watched with dropped jaws and widened eyes with an awestruck remark or two here and there. But the animal then trotted to the front and that was when the spotlights all focused on the rider and the animal.
Quan squinted his eyes a bit as he tried to peer down at the rider. The rider was hard to see, but from where he was, the Vietnamese boy could see that the rider was a girl. A girl with straight, chin-length straw blonde hair, and green, almond-shaped eyes. They were wearing what appeared to be a pink hat, a rather fashionable black jacket with a hot pink fur collar, and rather short shorts, as well as white boots. The horse meanwhile had a fine, small head with a straight profile, and lively, deep brown eyes. A long, strong neck, sloping shoulders, and a deep wide chest, and well-muscled legs that were white socks.
Nevertheless, the golden-eyed Asian joined the applause that was given to the rider and the equine. The rider was laughing happily, "Thank you! Thank you! I'm so, totally glad that you liked my entrance!"
"She's really good, don't you think?" Eduard asked as he looked at the other two boys with him. "She's really good."
The rider then cleared their throat, "Ahem. Now, onto some business! My aspiring stylists, I'm your fabulous teacher, Feliks Łukasiewicz! But you can just like, call me Feliks, Mr Feliks, or Feli for short if you'd like! I totally don't mind!"
"Hold on…Feliks?" Quan noted to himself softly. That was when his eyes widened a bit…well, a lot.
Eduard's own jaw dropped, "She's…a he?!"
Dracul simply whistled, "Damn."
Mr Feliks gave a chuckle as he placed a hand to his mouth, highly amused at all the reactions to his gender. "Yes, I'm totally a man," he grinned impishly. "Didn't expect that, did ya, now? Well, I like, don't mind you calling me a girl; after all, I do pull it off quite well, don't I?"
"Sad to say, but he's right, there," said Quan remorsefully. Eduard nodded in sad agreement.
"Now," Feliks placed a hand on his hips as he glanced up, "You're here because you want to like, take up fashion in your future, right? Become totally famous stylists and designers? Well, here I am to help you along the way!" he clapped his hands happily as he then turned on the controls, as well as take out a bright pink laptop, which then projected what appeared to be a slideshow at the huge slide at the front. "Well, designing is glamorous and all, but being a stylist actually requires way more than that! You'll have to for one thing, keep your minds sharp in like, knowing about different materials; any legal and business laws just in case someone plagiarises your work, or like, rips you off with the materials."
During this time, Eduard looked rather shocked, while Quan hurriedly whipped out his notebook and began scrawling things down. Dracul himself just leaned back in his head, with his arms rested behind his head.
"You're not taking any notes?" Eduard asked him, appearing quite surprised.
"Nah," Dracul shook his head. "I tend to miss stuff when I focus on writing. I'm better off listening."
"Oh, and if you like, totally miss out on my lecture, there's a recording of it on the school's website!" added Mr Feliks. "Either way, you're gonna have to listen to me!"
Dracul nodded, "See?"
"So, what happens is that the stylist's course runs into several parts: theory, business, practical, tutorial, and collaboration," called Feliks as he went to the next slide which showed the five parts written. "Now, with theory, it's pretty straight-forward because it's like, theory: stuff you need to know for written exams. Theory, you learn about styles going through the ages, and terminology for the fancier and more fabulous stuff so you'd know what to design for a man or a woman. For example, the difference between a chunky, cone, covered and cowboy heel if you're working for a gorgeous girl; and how to not make a faux pas mistake to the glitterati!"
This time it was Quan who looked shocked. 'Faux pas, I know what that means, but glitterati?'
"Faux pas?" Dracul inquired with an arch of his eyebrow, looking a bit confused.
"A false step," responded Quan as he scratched at his head with the rubber end of his pencil. "Basically, an error in judgement in style." For once, the Vietnamese boy was glad that Antonio was the idol he was working with: he was pretty sure that the Spaniard wasn't into wearing heels. Eduard looked quite nervous; beads of sweat were already popping at the side of his head. Quan felt quite sorry for him; he was pretty sure he was placed with a female idol, from what he could remember back at opening day.
"Business is what you could call, like, a piece of theory," continued Feliks as he came to a slide which showed what appeared to be a conference with people wearing pink suits, as well as a line graph that read 'Fabulousness level of new students throughout the year!' the line was pointing upwards, so it was pretty encouraging. "This is where if you most especially want to create your own business in the fashion industry! Also where you learn some basic business skills on how to run a company and how to conduct yourselves around your employees and employers as well as clients!"
"I'll do much better here hopefully," sighed Eduard as he wiped at his forehead. "My idol is female, so I really have to listen to the theory well!"
"Even with a male idol, it'd more advisable to listen to the theory that corresponds with girls and women," responded Quan as he tapped his pencil on his chin thoughtfully. "Because you might end up working with a female idol or model instead, or at least get a larger influx of female clients…"
"That's true."
"Practical is where you really do something!" said Feliks happily as he forwarded to a slide which consisted of photos of what appeared to be previous students who were creating outfits and drawing designs on a sketchpad. "You work only on your own creation because the academy provides all kinds of quality cloth and materials! You can even find accessories that are usually extremely expensive in stores here! Simply because we, like, want the best and top-notch stuff for our students!"
"What if somebody doesn't know how to sew or create clothes?" wondered Dracul.
"That would be impossible," said Eduard as he shook his head. "Shining World Academy only accepts the best, and in order to fit the stylist course, the criteria includes being able to produce their own clothing whether it be from cutting, sewing, knitting or any self-serving method."
"But of course," much to Quan's shock, the lady in purple who called out Gilbert before, turned her head around to face them. Her face was serious as she gazed back at them coldly, "It would be difficult for a stylist if they don't know how to create things out of only materials, or simple and plain clothing. They should at least know how to sew; so they can sew things onto a plain shirt and produce a new creation."
"True," Eduard looked shocked by her interruption. "Um…"
"Rosaliese Edelstein. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Likewise," responded Quan as he nodded, feeling his cheeks light up a bit when she fixed her gaze onto him.
Feliks spoke on, not looking at all bothered that Rosaliese had turned her head around and was speaking to the three boys. Instead, he just continued with the next slide, "Tutorials are when small groups of stylist students go talk to their mentor to, like, wrap up the week's topics and request for any help if they totally need it!"
"That sounds comforting to you, huh, Eduard?" Dracul grinned. "Just in case, someone can help you with all the girly terminology such as what the difference between a cowboy and covered heel is!"
Eduard simply sighed. However, Rosaliese tutted, "I would rather have a female idol than the ruffian I am partnered with."
"Gilbert, correct?" inquired Quan.
Rosaliese wrinkled his nose, "A brainless brute with an oversized ego. I cannot believe I have to work with him."
"You could try and swap with someone," said Quan. "After all, you are allowed to request for a swap or transfer in the beginning and end of the year of your school life. Or if someone's dropped out or transferred out of the school."
"Precisely, dropped out," said Rosaliese with a prim sniff. "Which I expect will happen to him in short time."
Quan couldn't help but give a snort from amusement rather than disdain, as he placed a hand to cover up his snicker. He couldn't help it; the albino called him a hard ass after all.
Seeing him give that response, Rosaliese arched an eyebrow, however her expression seemed to soften a bit upon seeing it. His reaction was intriguing, to say the least, "So, your name is Quan, correct?"
"Yes," the dark-haired stylist nodded.
"Collaboration is finally as how it's written," beamed Feliks onto another slide. "It's where the idol you're teamed up with is usually placed into a publicity event, so you then place your skills to the test! Like, for example – idols also can dance, model or act! So, obviously, it's your job to make them look good, but also use sensible choices!"
"Interesting," remarked Dracul as he tapped his chin. "So, this is what they meant with us working with our composer and idol."
Quan this time stopped with writing his notes as he peered up at the slide again as Mr Feliks this time came to another pink slide that was labelled 'Textbooks/Homework/Assignments!' notably, several people groaned upon hearing that. Mr Feliks then spoke up, "I know, I know; homework can be totally lame, but hey; assignments are practical and you're given a month or two to finish them! Homework is really just memorizing what you've learned in theory. Textbooks, you have two of them to buy, but they're easily buyable in the school's store!"
Eduard scrawled down in his diary as he grumbled, "Get textbooks in school store."
"Might as well go there next period," Quan murmured as he shrugged a shoulder.
"A study period, I presume?" inquired Rosaliese. Seeing him nod, she this time flashed what Quan swore was a tiny smile on her pale lips, "As of I."
"You, too?" Dracul grinned. "Me, too!"
"I see," Quan rubbed his chin. "So, we'll all be looking for textbooks after this period."
Dracul cracked his knuckles a bit, which made Eduard flinch in the seat beside him, "I just hope they're not too heavy. I don't wanna have a broken back by the end of the year!"
We see one of Quan's teachers! :D it'd make sense that Poland would be a stylist. :)
Character/s:
- Eduard von Bock = Estonia
- Feliks Łukasiewicz = Poland
No translations this time! XD
Next chapter will cover on Quan's study/free period, as well as getting insight on what's going on with Antonio and Madeleine. ;) so, stay tuned!
Peace out!
- Hebi-Kazechi-10
