Hey... first of all, I'd like to say a big thank-you to all my reviewers, especially to shirlynn - my dearest beta! This chapter was co-written with her, partly because I kept getting stuck, and she kept finding problems without solutions, so in the end I told her, "Sharing is caring!" And I pushed the chapter onto her... :P So if you see any changes in the writing style during the course of this chapter, forgive us both .

Oh, by the way, she said she'd take responsibility for any OOC-ness on the part of Tezuka - except the "snide" sentence... so if he's OOC, well, you know who to blame... XD

Just enjoy!

Chapter 13

"Ah, he's here!" Maika smiled, and waved at him. "See you tomorrow!"

Tezuka barely had time to give a salutary wave before the limousine sped away. But something else had caught his attention.

That logo, on the back of that limousine…

His eyes narrowed.

Atobe Keigo.

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Maika took one look at the row of attendants standing in the hall and bolted, dragging a surprised Atobe Keigo with her.

"Atobe!" She hissed. "What are they doing here?"

He blinked. "To get you ready?"

"That many?" She cast a pointed glance towards the door. "You know I hate make-up, Atobe!"

"It is a gala dinner, after all… just go in already and stop making such a fuss!" He pushed her back into the room, slamming the door behind her.

Why, you - you little – I'll get you for this, Atobe Keigo!

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Maika learnt that day that being passed from a make-up artist to a hairstylist to a wardrobe expert was a very exhausting experience. Well, not exhausting per se, but very, very detrimental to one's personal mental health. She could just feel her brain cells atrophying as the clock ticked away.

She was suddenly aware of the lack of hands touching her hair in any way whatsoever.

"Are we done?" She asked, barely daring to hope.

"Ye – "

The hairstylist did not even manage to finish her sentence before Maika was gone.

"Miss, wouldn't you like to take a look at yourself in the mirror first? Miss? Miss! Miss!"

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"I'm done!" She bounced into Atobe's room, where he was reading a book by the window. "Finally!"

"Ah, that's – " He stopped mid-sentence, hardly believing his eyes.

There was a long silence as he took in her elegantly coiffured hair, perfectly made-up skin and the long, flowing evening gown which flaunted her figure all too well.

"What?!" Maika demanded. "Is there something wrong? Do I have something on my face?"

Atobe closed his mouth, swallowing audibly. "You look…"

Maika's always been pretty, but this is… this is…

"…stunning."

He did not just say that out loud.

"I beg your pardon?" Maika's voice was disbelieving. "Did you just say…?"

"…nothing."

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"Remember, hold your head up, walk gracefully and above all - do not, for goodness' sake, start bickering in public!"

"Yes, kaa-san," Maika said demurely. "Anyway, you and tou-san are going to be there as well, aren't you? Then you can just keep an eye on us there, ne?"

Her mother waggled a finger in her face. "Haven't you heard? Prevention is better than cure!"

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In the adjacent room, Atobe's mother was having a significantly different talk with her only son.

"Keigo, what do you think of Maika?"

He looked at his mother strangely, but answered anyway. "Well, she's pretty good company, I guess…"

"…smart, very adept at making up insults…"

His mother winced slightly upon hearing that.

"…fun, prett – " He stopped abruptly. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing really," She smiled. Her assumptions had been correct, after all.

When Atobe had gone out, she leaned over towards her husband's chair.

"I told you so…"

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He stepped out of the limousine to be greeted by blinding flashes in his face. Not bothering with his usual pose for the cameras, he walked over to the other side and opened the door.

"Shall we?"

She took the proffered arm, and was welcomed into the social scene of aristocratic Tokyo.

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"Welcome! Ah, Atobe! It's good to see you here!" The host's son smiled, showing a perfect row of white teeth. "And who is this lovely young lady?"

Maika, remembering what her mother had cautioned her, looked up demurely at him from beneath thick lashes. "Tawako Kamaika, dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu."

The boy literally melted into a puddle of goo at her feet. "Ah, yoroshiku!" Aside to Atobe, he whispered, "This one's a real good catch, Atobe!" His eyes never left Maika.

Atobe shot him a warning look.

"Watch where you place your eyes," A noticeable tint of frostiness had entered his voice.

"A-ah, gomen! Welcome! Go on in!" He stammered a little. Offending an Atobe was never a good idea. Not if you wanted to remain in the top social circles, that is.

But Maika was not paying much attention anymore. As they moved away into the main hall, she fumed privately to Atobe, "I'm not a catch!"

"Of course not," Atobe agreed amiably. "You're just a girl that I've charmed with my incredible good looks and charisma."

He barely avoided getting a fist in his face for that.

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"Are you sure it's alright to drink this?" She asked him nervously.

He gave the said drink a cursory glance. "Champagne? Of course! It's the sign of classy elegance, you know…"

She rolled her eyes, but slowly brought the glass to her lips anyway.

"Eeurgh! It's bitter!"

"Just drink it." He hissed, inwardly thankful that no one had been paying enough attention to notice her little outburst. "You'll get used to it after awhile."

She pouted slightly, and raised the glass to her lips again.

The second sip wasn't as bad as she had expected it to be, and she soon started to like the warm, fuzzy feeling at the bottom of her stomach. After the next few sips, she decided that champagne actually wasn't too bad.

"Maika."

She turned to face her grey-haired companion. "Yes?"

"Stop drinking so much!"

"But you told me to drink it!" She said indignantly. "And besides, I've only drunk about the same amount you have!"

He groaned mentally. "You have?"

Let's just hope she has a naturally high alcohol-tolerance level…

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I'm sleepy… Maika checked her watch drowsily. And it's not even that late. How odd…

Next to her, Atobe Keigo watched her eyelids droop and sighed mentally. At least she hadn't done anything royally embarrassing. That is to say, if you didn't count telling the president of Nodame Corporation that his comb-over was out of place. And if you ignored that little incident where she'd told the wife of his father's friend that she should go on a diet… He smirked a little. He doubted that she'd remember any of this tomorrow – not that he'd let her get away with it, of course. Not a chance. The smirk grew fractionally. This is going to be fun…

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Humming the second movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 to himself, a certain grey-haired boy was somewhat nonplussed when a very pretty, feminine head drooped onto his shoulder.

"I told you you shouldn't have drunk so much, Maika."

Silence.

"Maika?"

More silence.

He swore slightly to himself. And you accused me of being tipsy…

Oh well… he frowned at her slightly, then gently put his arm around her and resumed humming. In the darkness of the limousine, there was no one to notice the slight flush on his cheeks, or to point out that the music he hummed had become ever so slightly more erratic as they sped homeward.

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Bloody headache. Maika lowered herself into her seat.

"Morning, Tezuka."

"Hn."

She massaged her temples gingerly. "Unusually reticent today, are we?"

There was no response from her seatmate, who suddenly seemed to be very absorbed in whatever he was doing.

Maika snorted slightly. Trust Tezuka Kunimitsu to find logarithms interesting… She looked back at her own work.
The log of 9 to the base of a is equal to x. Express, in terms of x, to the base of…the log of 81a

She sighed, and very gently lowered her head onto the table. Itai yo…

"Tawako-san, may I ask you why you are not doing the problems on the board?" The stony voice of the teacher prompted her to lift her head approximately three inches off the table.

"A-ah, I'm sorry, sensei… I'm not feeling too well at the moment…" She mumbled, reminding herself that leaving out the actual reason for her current predicament was technically not a lie. It was merely an unstated fact.

"Perhaps you should go see the nurse," The teacher's voice was a little more sympathetic. "Would you like a pass?"

"No, thanks," The immediate reply came. Maika wasn't that sick to forget that a trip to the school nurse would most likely end up with her being sent to the principal's office for – horror of horrors! – underage drinking. Really, how did Atobe manage to pull this off every single time? She'd have to find out from him later.

"Are you sure?" The teacher asked, looking at her pale face.

"Hai, sensei! I'll be fine after a short rest."

Tezuka narrowed his eyes at her. Liar.

She resumed her prayerful pose, her head once again resting on the table. But her peaceful repose was soon disturbed by a tapping on her desk that felt as if someone was hammering a fifty-pound nail through her head.

She did not bother to raise her head, instead snapping irritably, "What is it?"

"Your book."

"What about it?"

"It's encroaching on my desk."

"So?" she could feel the headache throbbing at her temples with every beat of her pulse. Baka Atobe. Stupid dinners. Stupid champagne.

"Move it."

She didn't bother to reply.

In a lower tone, "And underage drinking is prohibited by law. Section 122 (a), Children's Act 1979."

"Shut up, Tezuka. You sound like a nanny. And you're making my headache worse."

"If you were stupid enough to drink it in the first place, then you'll just have to sit up and face the consequences." He was obviously in a snide mood today.

"Why don't you just concentrate on doing your homework?"

But Tezuka didn't intend to drop the subject. No, not at all.

"All actions have consequences," He pointed out, albeit a little nastily.

"Tezuka. Shut up."

He opened his mouth.

"Now."

And he shut up.

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