Twenty One

Words that Shimako and Amane could possibly be attending the dancing event together were quickly spread throughout the Strawberry Dorm. No matter how many time that Amane had dismissed the rumors, they came at her at full force whenever she happened to cross path with Shimako. The Angel of Lillian had offered an empathic smile in which the Spica Star had dismissed it with a warm smile. The little exchange didn't go unnoticed from the passerby and, of course, the rumors only increased tenfold. Shimako had politely declined every question that had been shot at her to confirm that they were true. Amane was the only one that had gotten off a little bit easier than Shimako. The blue hair girl had spent most of her free time practicing on the horse track training ground but couldn't focus on it. It had gone on until Friday that she had started to grow irritate. That was why she had woken up early on a Saturday morning – way too early for her taste – to practice. What happened on that eventful Saturday morning was something that she would never forget. Amane had met up with the Lillian Angel on a Sunday afternoon, and Shimako hadn't seen a smile that bright on the older girl's face ever since she had met her.

"Amane-sempai, you look extremely happy today." Shimako commented as the both of them were sitting in the same table and eating lunch together. Amane had politely asked Shimako to join her when the older girl had approached the Roses' table earlier. She was greeted with warm smiles from all the Roses and a nod from Shimako to confirm that she would.

Amane looked up from her food to Shimako and smiled once more. "I've never felt so alive ever since I've came here, Shimako."

"Ah," Shimako smiled in understanding as she nodded. "May I take a guess that you have talked to that girl from the Saintly Chorus?" A small glint of redness adorned the older girl's cheeks as she nodded. Shimako could only smile. "I take it that it went well?" Another nod from the other girl confirmed her question. "I am happy for you, Amane-sempai."

The other girl smiled in thanks. "What about you, Shimako? These rumors aren't giving you any trouble, aren't they?"

Shimako smiled and shook her head. "Not at all, although I have to say that they won't believe a word I said when I told them that we are just friends."

Amane sighed. "I'm sorry to have troubled you, Shimako."

Before Shimako could reply, Sei had appeared before the two girls and smiled down at Amane. "You know, Amane-san, maybe you should just take my petite soeur to the dance."

Amane was startled by the appearance of Rosa Gigantea that she had looked up at the senior with surprise. The surprise didn't last long because she just smiled and turned to look at Shimako with an apologetic look. "My apologies, Shimako, but I have a person in mind that I would like to take to the dance with."

Shimako let out a blushed while shaking her head. "No, it should be my apologies, Amane-sempai. I didn't know that Onee-sama would actually show up and suggest such…a thing." She then shot Sei a look that the senior had to chuckle nervously under the younger girl's disapproving stare.

Amane watched the two of them having a staring contest for at least ten seconds before deciding to clear her throat to catch the two soeurs' attention. "So, who do you have in mind for your partner, Shimako?"

Shimako blinked and before she answered, she saw the same girl with long ebony hair walking passed them. Her dark grey eyes followed the girl until she was out of sight before turning to look at the two older girls before her. The knowing smiles that both of them had on their faces caused her to look down at her half eaten sandwich to hide the blush that was starting to form on her cheeks.

"I see, I see," Sei said with a delighted chuckle. "What's her name?"

Shimako shook her head. "I do not know." And before Sei could even march off towards the girl with long ebony hair, Shimako had quickly shot out her hand and grabbed the other girl's shirt to stop her from moving. "I would appreciate it if I could at least learn her name by my own, Onee-sama."

-x-

She was content that her best friend and roommate had decided to go back to the choir practice. The fourth St Spica grader, Nanto Yaya, had seen it all on that Saturday morning. She had witnessed Ohtori Amane taking her friend – and secret crush – back to the dormitory. She knew that whatever had happened between them that morning would turn out to be good, and it did. Hikari had come straight into the room and told her that she would be going back to the choir practice. Yaya was happy at the news, but it pained her to know that her feelings would never, ever, be returned. Yet, she still hoped that one day Hikari would know her feelings, and perhaps return those said feelings as well. Even though that hope was not going to get her anywhere, it was enough to keep her sane.

Yaya was just about to finish her lunch when she noticed Amane walking towards the Roses' table. Her curiosity spike as her dark hazel eyes followed the taller girl's movement. When she noticed that Amane had asked the younger blonde of the group to join her for lunch, she had almost destroyed the sandwich that she was holding in her hand. Not only that Amane was giving hope to her best friend, she was even toying with her! Such action was not acceptable in her eyes but she had no proof that Amane would do such a thing. The girl was, in fact, popular and very well respected just like the Etoile. However, just because Amane was popular and well respected, it didn't mean anything for Yaya if the said girl was to hurt her best friend. So she decided to stay a little while longer to observe the two girls not too far from her. If she could tune out everyone and only focus on the two, she'd be able to hear the conversation.

When Yaya had strained her ears to listen to what Amane and Shimako were talking about, she began to relax. Apparently, the young blonde knew about Hikari. She wondered how she knew, but judging from what she had heard it appeared that the blonde had helped her friend out. Well, that was all she needed to hear because she was sure that she didn't want to hear who Amane was taking to the dance. So she had stood up from her table and started to casually exit the cafeteria. She had heard Amane asking the younger White Rose of who she was taking to the dance with, and it was then that she heard silence from the girl and felt six pair of eyes on her. She shrugged the feeling off and left the cafeteria to go back to the dorm. Hikari was waiting for her there, and of course the annoying first year student, Okuwaka Tsubomi. She sighed and shook her head. Dealing with that energetic and annoying brat was enough to give her a huge headache.

Once Yaya returned to her room, the first thing that she noticed was Hikari practicing her vocal while Tsubomi was standing nearby to right a few errors that the girl had made. She smiled at the both of them in acknowledgement and thought that she could get away with joining in the practice, Tsubomi had jumped on her and demanded her to get out the practice book. After five minutes, she had grown bored of it and decided to take a break. And since she was taking a break, she had grabbed Hikari to join her. While Tsubomi told them that she would join them later, Yaya had taken up that chance to pull the adorable blonde out and made a quick dash down the hallway and towards the stairs. Once they were almost there, she slowed her pace into a walk and was quite happy to be by Hikari's side. When she noticed two St Miator's students ascending the stairs, she smiled at them and gave them a respectful bow. It was then that she heard the conversation between the two that caught her interest. So she turned to them and sighed.

"Ahh, it's so nice that St Miator gets to have nice and adorable room temp." She said rather disappointedly. Hikari had to giggle at her comment.

"Oh, wouldn't it be easier if the two of you transfer to St Miator?" Nagisa asked as if it was easy to do so. And because of that, it caused the two St Spica girls to giggle at her question.

"I guess you don't know that it is not quite easy to do so, ne?" Yaya said with a playful wink that caused Nagisa to blush in embarrassment of her question. "I take it that you're that new transfer student Aoi Nagisa?"

Nagisa nodded and smiled at her while Tamao gave the ebony hair girl with a smile of her own. "You seem to know quite a lot about St Miator, Nanto Yaya-san. I believe that Konohana Hikari-san was transferred to St Spica last year as well."

Yaya chuckled and nodded. "You know your stuff quite well in regard to St Spica, Suzumi Tamao-san."

Both Nagisa and Hikari only watched on in confusion as their two best friends smiled at each other like they were having some kind of competition. However, it didn't last long when Nagisa gave out a disappointed sigh along with, "It's such a shame that I wouldn't be able to see Tamao-chan in an apron."

Tamao, whom had a secret crush on her, giggled as to hide her blush before she responded. "I doubt I would look cute in an apron, Nagisa-chan. However, it is a shame that I wouldn't be able to see you in an apron, Nagisa-chan. You would look adorable in it!"

While Nagisa blushed under her best friend's praise, Yaya turned to look at her own best friend and grinned. "Although Nagisa-chan might look cute in an apron, I would doubt that she could compete with Hikari-chan."

Nagisa and Hikari exchanged a look that very much said 'We're their dolls'.

"All joking aside," Tamao started as she softly cleared her throat. "I believe that St Spica provides the fourth grader with their first year helpers as well. So, you don't have to envy us students from St Miator, Yaya-chan."

Yaya heaved out a long sigh and folded her arms across her chest. If only that the blue hair girl knew exactly what she was talking about. However, it didn't hurt to tell her newfound friendship with the other two girls about the little monster that was her first year helper. "You don't know, Tamao-chan, but our first year is quite a bit of a…how do you put it nice lywithout outrightly insulting her?"

Hikari giggled quietly behind her hand. "Yaya-chan, Tsubomi isn't that bad."

Yaya quickly turned to her friend, her eyes widened a little as if the other girl had just told a bad joke. "Not that bad? Hikari, she works us to the bones and we're her seniors!"

"That's because you're too lazy, Yaya-sempai!" A loud voice announced itself from atop the stairs as both Yaya and Hikari flinched slightly. They knew the owner of that voice. They also knew that the owner had heard their conversation. And although Hikari was a tad bit embarrassed and a little guilty because of it, Yaya wasn't. In fact, the dark hazel eyes girl didn't seem like she was guilty of it at all. Not only that, Yaya had muttered under her breath, "Speaking of the devil," after she had been called out.

"So, you're Yaya-chan and Hikari-chan's room temp?" Nagisa asked in a friendly tone as she looked up at the younger girl. The said girl just huffed and pointed an accused finger at the ebony hair girl with a little frown upon her forehead.

"Room temp? No, I am not their room temp. If anything, I am only in their presence to stop them from lacking in the choir practice!" The pink girl declared before she cleared her throat. "If you two are wondering about who I am, my name is Okuwaka Tsubomi, first year student of St Spica and also a member of the Saintly Chorus in which both Yaya-sempai and Hikari-sempai are in."

Yaya heaved out another sigh and placed a hand upon her head while shaking it lightly. "Such a bother."

Unfortunately, that didn't go unnoticed by the pink hair girl. "Yaya-sempai! As one of the most talented in the Saintly Chorus' members, everyone is expecting you to perform flawlessly!"

Hikari sighed and shook her head as she glanced over at her friend. "If only she has some more dedication in her role."

Feeling like she had been outnumbered by the two girls, Yaya quickly turned to her two new friends and silently pleading them with her eyes for help. Nagisa immediately saw it as a chance to get to know her two new friends better, not because she had any idea how to help Yaya out. So with a cheerful smile and a clap of her hands, she turned to both the Spica girls and said in a cheerful voice that matched her smile. "Oh! Why don't the three of you come to our room! Tamao-chan has received her family red tea this morning and we were on our way back to enjoy it!"

Yaya smiled in relief and appreciation at the red head before she nodded. "Thank you, Nagisa-chan."

"Thank you, Nagisa-chan." Hikari murmured softly as she smiled at the other girl. Tsubomi just stood there with a defeated look since the subject had been changed so quickly that she didn't have the chance to even prepare for it. So she had to silently follow the seniors to the two Miator's girls room and tried her best to not be so loud in the presence of the four seniors.

When Nagisa was about to open the door to the room, she heard a crash from within. The five girls were wondering what was happening, so when Nagisa opened the door and let the girls inside, the room was a mess. Books were all over the place and the chairs seemed to have fallen. While the other four girls were inspecting the unexpected messy room, Nagisa was the first to saw the movement from an unknown presence that was hidden under the duvet of the bed. Since Nagisa was so easily scared, and just the movement from the duvet had her jumped straight into a conclusion that it was a ghost, the red head screamed at the top of her lungs and dashed out of the room so fast that the other girls couldn't figure out what had just happened. When they turned to the moving object, it appeared that there was a petite dark hair girl from under it. The girl was wearing a St Miator uniform underneath the white apron that she was wearing. It only further indicated that the girl was Tamao and Nagisa's room temp that didn't turn up last night. However, the sound of another crash caught the girls' attention as they turned their heads towards the open door. They could only guess that their friend had run into something, or someone, and had fallen on her bottom at the result.

-x-

Yoshino and Yumi were walking back to their rooms together when they saw their red head friend dashing passed them. They both exchanged looks of concern before they turned to watch the girl's retreating form. Then their eyes had widened when they noticed that their friend was running straight to Sister Hamasaka, the Head Sister of the Strawberry Dorm and the scariest Sister that they had ever met. So when the red head had collided with Sister Hamasaka, they could only pray for their friend to receive minimum punishment such as a lecture. They both watched as Sister Hamasaka starting to recover from her fall, while their friend's form went rigid. When the Head Sister had recovered, she immediately stood up as the red head hurriedly stood with her. She looked down at the red head with a stern stare before folding her arms. The two watched as Sister Hamasaka turned and started to walk towards her office with their friend following behind her. The red head had her head casted down in shame and they could tell that the girl was quite scared of what might happen in the office.

"Should we…help her?" Yumi asked, unsure of what to do as they continued to watch their friend.

"Yes but how exactly are we going to do that?" Yoshino replied as she sighed.

Yumi pondered for a little while before a light bulb going off above her head. She smiled happily as she quickly turned to her friend. "I know who can help Nagisa-san! Rokujou-sama!"

"You're right, Yumi-san! Rokujou-sama may be able to rescue Nagisa-san from her misery!" Yoshino said in a matter-of-fact voice that Yumi had to let out a nervous chuckle.

"You're exaggerating her situation a little too far, Yoshino-san."

"No one will know, Yumi-san." Yoshino responded with a chuckle of her own. "Let's go find Rokujou-sama. I don't think that Nagisa-san would be able to last long in Sister Hamasaka's office."

Yumi nodded and the two began to search for the St Miator's Student Council President. It wasn't long until they found Rokujou Miyuki quietly chatting with the Etoile. When they approached her, they had told the Miator's Student Council President what had happened and hoped that the older girl would help their friend out. While the two exchange students were telling the story, Shizuma had listened with an amused twinkle in her eyes. Although she wanted to go and help her dear Nagisa out, it wasn't quite her job to do so when it was Miyuki's job. So after the story had been told and the pleading of the two girls had been acknowledged, Miyuki had excused herself to go to the Head Sister's office to rescue Nagisa.

"You two are quite close to Nagisa." Shizuma said with a soft smile. "Thank you for looking out for her."

Yumi and Yoshino just smiled and nodded. "It is what a friend is for." Yoshino said proudly.

"We will leave you be and see if Nagisa-san is alright, Etoile-sama. Have a good day." Yumi said politely as she bowed her head to the taller girl. Yoshino mimicked her friend's action before both girls turned and walked towards direction of the Head Sister's office.

-x-

"I'm sorry for inconveniencing you again, Rokujou-sama." Nagisa said as she bowed her head in shame. Miyuki smiled at her as she placed a hand upon the girl's shoulder.

"It's my job to ensure that the Miator students are happy and out of trouble. Just be careful next time, Nagisa-chan. Also, remember to not run in the hallway. It is one of the Strawberry Dorm's rules."

"Yes! Rokujou-sama!" Nagisa responded while her head was still in a bowing position.

"You should thank Shimazu and Fukuzawa-san. They came to me and asked me to help you." Miyuki said as she turned and smiled at the other two younger girls. "I have a bit of paperwork to do, please excuse me."

The three younger girls let out a "Have a good day" after Miyuki had made her way down the hallway. Nagisa straightened herself up and let out a quiet sigh before she turned to look at the other two girls. She turned to her friends and flashed a smile in gratitude. "Thank you, Yoshino-san and Yumi-san! You two really did save me!"

The other two girls let out a small giggle as they waved a hand in the air as if to say it was no problem at all. "We look out for our friends, Nagisa-san, so there's no need to thank us." Yoshino said sweetly as Yumi nodded.

"Let us walk you back to your room, Nagisa-san." Yumi said when really her true intention was to spend a little bit more time with Nagisa. They hadn't spent a lot of time together lately and the pigtailed girl missed her red head friend quite a lot. Besides, Yumi wasn't in Nagisa's class so it only made it a tad harder for her to socialize with the girl.

Nagisa nodded and smiled brightly. "Thank you, Yoshino-san, Yumi-san."

The walk back to Nagisa's room was filled with conversation about the reason behind her freaking out and running in the hallway to sweets. Upon arriving at Nagisa's room, the red head wasn't ready to let her two friends go just yet. So she had grabbed the two girls' hands and pulled them into the room after opening the door. She was surprised that Tamao, Yaya, Hikari and Tsubomi were sitting on either side of the two beds waiting for her. Plus, there was another girl too that she didn't quite recognize, other than that she had seen her somewhere before. Yaya and Hikari looked up and over Nagisa's shoulders to where Yoshino and Yumi stood and smiled gently at them, which they received back in return.

"Oh, the room is clean." Was Nagisa's first statement as she laid her eyes around the room.

Yaya chuckled before tossing her ebony hair over her shoulder with a quick movement of her hand. "Of course! It was a mess when we arrived and since you got so spooked up and ran away, we didn't quite know what to do other than helping you clean the room and wait for you to come back."

"And we also heard that you got into trouble with Sister Hamasaka." Tsubomi said with a shake of her head. "You should know better than running around the hallway, Nagisa-sempai."

Nagisa chuckled nervously before sighing. That was when she noticed the other girl came up to her with tears in her eyes. The sight hurt her and she wanted to assure the girl that everything was alright, but before she could the dark hair girl had let out a small cry with tears had starting to fall from her eyes. "I-I'm s-so sorry, N-Nagisa-o-oneesama! I-If it wasn't f-for me, then y-you wouldn't g-get i-into trouble!"

Nagisa watched the tears fall from the younger girl's eyes with sadness before she walked up to her and pulled the younger girl into a warm embrace. "It's okay. There's no harm done, umm…"

The younger girl instantly pulled out from the warm embrace, her cheeks flushed and her tears seemed to have stopped a little when she quickly bowed her head. "Oh…Um..My name is Chiyo." The girl fidgeted a little as she looked down. "Tsukidate Chiyo."

Nagisa only smiled as she pulled out her handkerchief and began to wipe the tears from the younger girl's face. "Well, Chiyo-chan, there is no harm done and I am quite happy to meet you."

"It's a shame that we didn't get to taste Tamao-chan's red tea." Yaya sighed in disappointment.

"Ah, indeed. It is a shame." Tamao added as she looked over to where she kept her tea.

"Oh!" Nagisa suddenly exclaimed that got everyone in the room to look at her in curiosity. "We can have a midnight tea party!"

"Midnight tea party?" Yaya repeated with a thoughtful look. Then she smiled and nodded. "That would be fun!"

Nagisa beamed when Tamao smiled at her in approval. The red head then turned to her two other friends with hope in her excited crimson eyes. "Yoshino-san, Yumi-san, would you join us?"

Both said girls looked at each other as if to have a silent conversation with their eyes, before they turned and smiled softly at their friend. "Of course! Although, would that be against the rule?" Yumi said worriedly.

Yaya giggled and nodded. "It is, but there's no fun in life if we don't take the risk once in a while right?"

Yoshino, seeming to have found someone that had the same motive as her in live, nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! You are right!"

Yumi sighed and shook her head. "Yoshino-san is all pumped up now…"

"Would you invite Shimako-san for us, Yumi-san?" Tamao asked softly.

Yumi nodded in confirmation before she turned to both Yaya and Hikari. Since they hadn't formally introduced themselves yet, she took that as an opportunity to do so. "I believe that we haven't met until now, and I'm very sure that you have heard of us as well. My name is Fukuzawa Yumi, it's nice to meet you two."

Yoshino nodded and smiled gently at the two girls that went to the same academy as her. "My name is Shimazu Yoshino, it's nice to meet you two."

"I'm Nanto Yaya, it's a pleasure to meet both of you." Yaya said before she turned and chuckled at Yoshino. "We go to the same school and are in the same class, I'm surprise that you haven't learned my name, Yoshino-san."

Yoshino blushed as she scratched the side of her face nervously. "Well, when all I am focusing on is my studies, I guess I don't really pay much attention to the people around me unless there is…something exciting happening."

Hikari giggled before she introduced herself. "I'm Konohana Hikari, it is a pleasure to meet the two of you."

Yumi's lips formed into an 'O' shape as she gazed at Hikari. The girl resembled Shimako, though not so much. She could tell that the girl was also shy judging by her body language. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop what was going to escape her mouth. "You look so much like Shimako-san, Hikari-san!"

The blonde blinked before she blushed, knowing full well who she was being compared to. "Umm…No, I don't…think so. Toudou-san looks is more serene and angelic. My appearance just…normal..."

Yoshino let out a small huff as she waved her hand before her to dismiss what Hikari just said. "Non-sense! Although I agreed to what you said about Shimako-san, but you look like the other version of Shimako-san! While Shimako-san appearance is angelic, your appearance is innocence! If you have to ask me, I would say that the two of you look like sisters!" Hikari blushed even harder which caused the two Lillian students to giggle.

"Anyway, we will be going back to our rooms now. We will see you at midnight." Yoshino said with a playful wink towards the group as they nodded their head in confirmation.

"I'll be sure to bring Shimako-san along. I'm sure she would enjoy this gathering."

The two Lillian girls then left to return to their respectful rooms while anticipating on the midnight tea party that would to happen later that day. They also prayed to Saint Maria to not let them get caught, even though the thrill of getting caught would only increase their excitement.