Twenty Four
Chikaru sighed as she regarded the two other Student Council Presidents and the Etoile. It was only two days until the actual event coming to play, and she had so many things to do until then. She didn't quite have the time to sit here and watch as the other Student Council Presidents exchanging challenging glares. She was glad that Shizuma was presence but even so the silver hair girl was just there to observe and agree on whatever that was needed for her to agree on. Just as usual she felt like she was going to be at the meeting room for longer than she'd expect it.
"How is the decoration coming along, Toumori-san?" Miyuki asked as she regarded the blonde.
"It's coming along very well, thank you for your concern, Rokujou-san." Replied Shion as she smiled a sarcastic smile at the other girl. "I hope that we all would taste the finest food from St Miator at the event."
Miyuki smiled at the blonde, knowing full well that the other girl knew that it was a force smile. "Of course, our recipe will be of a very high standard."
Shizuma suppressed an annoyed sigh as she observed the other two silently killing one another with their eyes. Her eyes then soon drifted over to where Chikaru sat with a look of utter disappointment, something that she had never seen the dark hair girl had whenever she was in this meeting room. So instead of paying attention to the other two, she decided to pay attention to Chikaru and addressed her.
"Minamoto-san, is there something wrong?"
Chikaru blinked out of her thought as she regarded the Etoile. She then smiled and shook her head. "No, nothing is wrong. I just hope that Yoshino-chan and Yumi-chan are doing alright without me at the club."
Shizuma smiled softly at the other girl. "As long as Toudou-san and Satou-san are there, I am sure that they are fine."
-x-
"Are you sure that we should let Rosa Gigantea in charge of this?" Yoshino asked in curiosity as she nodded her head over to where Sei was poking her finger at the material of the dresses they were going to make.
"She's the oldest one, right?" Yumi said illogically as she could think of many ways that Sei might or might not be able to help them in making a dress on time.
"I'm not sure if she has any experiences in making a dress, let alone being in charge while Chikaru-sama is having a council meeting." Yoshino said as she sighed. "We're not going to make it." She commented under her breath but Yumi caught it nonetheless.
"Yoshino-san." Yumi said softly as she gently nudged her friend. When the other girl turned to her, she pointed a finger toward where Shimako was sitting in front of the tailoring machine. "Look."
Yoshino turned to where her friend's finger was pointing at before she grinned widely, her eyes shone with pure hope that her dress might get done before the actual event after all. Without a word she quickly moved over to Shimako with so much excitement that had left Yumi to giggle behind her hand.
"Yumi-onee-sama."
Yumi immediately turned around to where her name had been softly mentioned. She looked down at the girl with the teddy bear and smiled softly. She then lowered her body down at the girl's level and regarded her with a cheerful look. "Yes, Kagome-chan?"
"Who is Shimako-onee-sama going with to the dance?" Kagome asked innocently as she looked over at the Rosa Gigantea en bouton. The question surprised Yumi as she didn't know how to answer that question. She didn't ask her friend about it either. She had thought that there wasn't anyone that would interest her friend, so she didn't try to bother Shimako with a question that would somehow bother the girl. So with an apologetic smile and a gentle shake of her head, Yumi opened her mouth to respond.
"I'm sorry, Kagome-chan, but I don't know the detail to that."
Kagome nodded and turned to leave, leaving Yumi to ponder about whom it was that Shimako was making the dress for to impress them. Then again, since it was Shimako she didn't think that the girl would need any dress to impress anyone. Her angelic face was enough to move any heart that would look her way, and she didn't have any doubt that those hearts had somewhat lost hope in trying to gain the Angel of Lillian's attention.
"Alright, I have decided!" Sei suddenly announced as she looked up at no one in particular with a determination look in her eyes. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the Rosa Gigantea. "I shall not wear a dress!"
Yoshino and Yumi only stared at their senior in utter confusion before the words that the other girl had said registered in their minds. They then began to imagine Sei turning up at the event wearing absolutely nothing. Once that image had registered in their minds, their faces turned red and they felt as if they were going to faint from the amount of heat that was gathering around their faces. Shimako only blinked at her Onee-sama's declaration before she smiled.
"Are you going to wear a tuxedo, Onee-sama?"
Sei turned to her petite soeur and grinned. "Yes! That is what I am wearing!"
"Do you even have a tuxedo ready, Rosa Gigantea?" Yoshino asked after she calmed down from the disturbing image of the older girl.
"Of course I do!" Chimed Sei as she gave the underclassmen a toothy grin. "I came here all prepared!"
"So who are you taking to the dance, Rosa Gigantea?" Yumi asked.
Sei cocked her head to the side as she thought about the question. She had already known who she was going to take to the dance. The only question that Yumi should be asking was 'Do you have the courage to ask Youko?'
"It's a surprise, okay?" Sei said with a secretive wink. Yumi sighed and shrugged it off. She'd find out at the dance anyway.
The girls then went back to work on their dresses, all of them determined to finish their dresses before the day would end tomorrow. It wasn't long until Chikaru returned from the meeting and observed the club room. When she saw the girls busying themselves with the dresses that she had helped them designed, she smiled in approval until her eyes landed on Sei. The taller girl was sitting at the corner of the room with her eyes staring off into space. Chikaru sighed as she guessed what the older girl was thinking about. She wanted so much to go over there and give Sei some sort of hints, but since she had so much to do she didn't think that she could put her work off any longer. So trying her best to ignore the urge to come to Sei's aid – even though the girl surely didn't need it – Chikaru walked over to her work station and began working on her own dress. She had almost finished it, and she couldn't wait to move on to the dresses that she had designed for her lovely and adorable club members; Kizuna, Remon and Kagome.
-x-
Yaya had decided to skip the Saintly Chorus practice on that day. She couldn't concentrate or even try to focus on the note that she was trying to sing. No matter how hard she tried, the pitch was off and she had interrupted the practice. So in the end she had decided to skip practice to gather her thoughts. She had remembered the moment that Hikari had returned to their room with the most cheerful and alluring smile that she had ever seen. She felt jealous that it wasn't her that her best friend had smiled like that. She was jealous of Amane, the star of St Spica, the Spica Prince. If only she could be brave enough and come out to her best friend, then maybe she wouldn't have to feel such painful emotion.
"Yaya-chan! Guess what?" Hikari had come rushing in the room once she had opened the door. Yaya was sitting at the edge of her bed, reading over her Saintly Chorus book while waiting for her best friend to return. She was also trying to figure out the emotions that were swirling within her and had settled down in her stomach whenever Toudou Shimako was near. She didn't quite feel such an emotion when Hikari was near, so it was hard for her to even comprehend this new feeling.
Yaya looked up from her book and gave her friend a small smile. "Ogasawara-sama had finally paid attention to you?" She asked teasingly as she watched the other girl blushed.
Ogasawara Sachiko's demeanor was the same as Ohtori Amane. They had both sat down and started comparing the Roses' members with the famous characters of the three Astrea's schools. The only people that would come close to Amane's personality were Ogasawara Sachiko and Hasekura Rei. Since then Hikari had tried to imagine Sachiko speaking to her and with just that small thought had left the blonde to blush. She had already been in contact with Rei because of Yoshino, and she had told Yaya that Rei and Amane were so much alike that she had thought they were long lost sisters. Once Yaya had heard such a tale, she had burst out in fit of giggles with the shorter girl scolding her in embarrassment. When Yaya had calmed down Hikari had gone to talk about Sachiko. She listened to her blonde friend as the latter talked about how difficult it was to be under Sachiko's presence as if the Ogasawara heiress was the Princess, and Hikari was nothing but a small commoner. Both of them had heard about Sachiko's family and how she had been raised to be the lady that she was today from Yumi and Yoshino. But while Hikari felt like she was nothing but a common girl, Yaya felt like the older girl was just another wealthy being that needed somewhat of a rescue.
"Really, Yaya-chan, you should stop teasing me about it." Hikari muttered much to her friend's amusement.
"Sorry, I can't help it." Yaya responded with an apologetic smile. "Since it's not that, then what is it, Hikari?"
Hikari immediately brightened up as she skipped over to where Yaya was sitting, and stood before her friend with a huge smile upon her innocent face. "Amane-sempai asked me to be her partner at the dance!"
She didn't know why but all Yaya could feel was a tug of pain upon hearing those words. Her infatuation with Hikari had got to end since nothing good was going to happen if she continued to have such a feeling for the other girl. However, how was she supposed to stop the pain that was slowly spreading throughout her body from her heart? She knew that she could have asked the girl to go with her to the dance, but she feared that she would only be forcing Hikari to agree because she was her friend. And if Hikari was to agree then she would have to reject Amane, the woman whom she seemed to now love more than anything, including herself.
"That's good for you, Hikari! Congratulations!" Yaya said as she put up a fake happy smile that Hikari didn't quite notice.
'What am I supposed to do?' Yaya thought as she sighed.
She was absent mindlessly walking to clear her head, but she didn't think that she would be entering the St Lulim's school ground. With a small shrug of her shoulders, she continued on and didn't expect to actually find her way to Chikaru's club room. She heard the happy chatters from inside the room and for a moment, she wanted to join in that group just so she could forget about everything that had been worrying her, everything that had pained her, Hikari.
While she was standing outside the door and pondering on what to do, Yaya didn't notice that the door had been slid opened and revealed the angelic woman that had been making her confused. Yaya could only blink as she looked over to Shimako, whom was also looking at the long ebony hair girl with surprise in her eyes. It wasn't long until Shimako took control of the situation and bowed her head at Yaya in a greeting.
"Good afternoon, Yaya-san."
Quickly coming out of her state of mind, Yaya bowed her head back before responding in a surprise tone. "Good afternoon!" When she had caught her somewhat high pitch tone, she cleared her throat to get her normal voice back. "Shimako-san."
Shimako smiled softly at her. "Are you looking for anyone in particular, Yaya-san?"
Yaya blushed in embarrassment for having no answer to respond to the dark blonde's question. After all, her feet carried her here without much of her knowledge. Shimako, on the other hand, had taken Yaya's blush and silent as the answer to her question, and she couldn't help but giggle softly behind her hands. That giggle only caused the blush on Yaya's cheeks to deepen, but the real reason for the Saintly Chorus' member's cheeks to deepen like that was because Shimako had taken Yaya by the hand and stepped out of the room, thus sliding the door shut before giving the girl's hand a light tug.
"Would you like to take a short walk with me, Yaya-san?" She asked softly and even though her face was showing it, the hope that her face couldn't muster was showing in her eyes.
Yaya could only nod in confirmation before she was being led by Shimako. She was marveling at the skin to skin contact that was from Shimako's soft hand. She had never noticed that the other girl's skin was this soft. She also couldn't help but compare Shimako to Hikari and even noted that Shimako's skin was far softer than Hikari's. Not only that, the contact had made her stomach felt funny and not even Hikari could even do that. If this was some twisted attraction that she was feeling towards Shimako, then she doubted that the latter would feel something remotely similar to it.
"Are you nervous, Yaya-san?" Shimako asked as her eyes were focusing on the road before her.
"Why do you think that?" Yaya asked as her eyes were staring at hers and Shimako's connected hands.
"I can tell from the way that you're holding my hand." Came Shimako's response as she rounded the corner and led the both of them outside of the St Lulim's building.
"Oh." Yaya responded and mentally slapped herself at how stupid she must have sounded.
Shimako was silent during the walk and Yaya was obediently following her to wherever that the blonde was taking her. When Shimako stopped at the garden that St Lulim had, she let go off of Yaya's hand and turned to face the girl. Both girl admitted that they missed that small contact, even if it was just a little.
"Do I make you nervous, Yaya-san?" Shimako asked once more and she could see that she had taken the other girl by surprise. If the expression that Yaya was showing on her face at the moment, she regretted for having to ask. Then again, she desperately wanted to know if that was why Yaya hadn't gone as far as speaking to her more than five minutes whenever they would meet up.
"Well…you don't make me nervous…" Yaya started and was grateful that Shimako was waiting patiently for her to gather her thoughts to finish what she had started. She let out a small sigh and felt like running a hand through her hair, but stopped herself from doing so. "You just make me feel…confused." 'Was that a good enough answer?' Yaya mentally asked herself.
Shimako smiled in understanding and nodded. "I see. Is this a good confusion or bad confusion?"
Yaya blinked before she thought about the question once more. "I…at the moment…I can't figure it out."
"Would you like to accompany me to the dance, Yaya-san?"
Taken once again by surprise, Yaya immediately looked at Shimako with her eyes wide opened. Her mouth was slightly agape. The question was too sudden, but even though she was surprise there was another feeling within her heart that she didn't quite understand. While Hikari had shattered her hope, Shimako was giving her a second hope that she didn't know was looking for. However, it was as if Shimako had effortlessly fixed up her heart and was giving it a feeling that she didn't think she would experience; happiness. So much to her acknowledgement, her lips spread up into a full, happy smile as she nodded her head. She had never thought that being noticed by the person that she wanted them to notice her would feel so good.
"Yes, I would be honored to accompany you to the dance, Shimako-san."
Shimako, whom she didn't think that Yaya would agree so easily, let out a sigh of relief before she beamed at the other girl. "I'm glad! You have no idea how fast my heart was beating when I asked you that question."
Yaya cocked an eyebrow before she smirked, feeling like she was back to her usual self once more. "Oh? Did I really make your heart flutter that much?"
The ebony hair girl appreciated the blush that was spreading on the blonde's cheeks. Furthermore, she thought that it was purely beautiful to witness such a significant sight. So without much of a word, Yaya closed the distance between them as she lifted her hand to cradle the other girl's face in her palm. Her hazel eyes shining in adoration as she gazed at the girl before her.
"Now, I'm not sure if I should feel honored or blessed at the fact that I will be accompanying you to the dance." She murmured softly, knowing that if she was to move an inch closer to Shimako, their lips would be touched. "You're an Angel, Shimako-san."
A/N
I always feel bad for Yaya when Hikari didn't return her feelings. Well, now, with fanfiction, I don't feel bad anymore ~ And now I'm missing the drama -sigh- Oh well, I need to do something dramatic for the next chapter ;)